The White Woods
by EvanescenceGuardian959
Summary: A story preceding Fates showcasing a great battle between Nohrian and Hoshidan forces in the harsh and frozen area known as the White Woods. What starts as a small skirmish escalates into a full-scale battle that could determine the fate of the coming war. Mainly focuses on Laslow, though other characters are featured as well.
1. The White Woods

_**Author's Note:** Hi, thanks for clicking on my story. The description basically says it all, in that it's a massive battle scene featuring Fire Emblem Fates characters. I tried to combine aspects of gameplay, story and realism for it, so I'd love some feedback on how it went. Second story on this site. Here we go._

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 _ **The White Woods**_

 _ **Laslow**_

The wintry winds blew forebodingly throughout the woods as the army continued to march through them, the deep but soft snow sinking beneath their feet as they marched. Snowflakes fell from the exposed cracks of the darkened sky that peaked in between the large frost-covered trees, cloaking the woods in darkness. It gave the woods an eternal night feel, and made any march through them feel longer than it should. The dark trees and shadows rose and fell, each small noise piercing the ears of the soldiers, each of them jumpy and cautious in their steps, clutching their weapons tightly. The rumours of monsters in the woods that had spread through the army like wildfire hadn't helped either, and Laslow had to admit even he had been spooked by a couple of them.

Like the Faceless rumours. Unlike the evil spirit and zombie rumours that sounded like Odin's spiel that had been equally as prevalent, this one actually had the possibility of being more than a rumour. Laslow had heard of the Faceless, and had decided he'd prefer his contact with them to remain in rumours. Large, hulking beasts who would attack anything in their path that could be identified by the mysterious holed masks they wore, they were the creatures that plagued every Nohrian soldier's nightmares.

And here they were, trekking the White Woods, where the Faceless were rumoured to be at their strongest and most monstrous that not even the strongest dark magic practitioners dared to attempt to control them. The cold climate caused Laslow to shiver every so often, which did nothing to help his nerves as he walked alongside a collection of lancers, Nohrian soldiers who aptly wielded lances. Their hushed murmuring of new monster rumours and about the cold and the dark was starting to get to Laslow, even if he preferred it to the distant sounds of the White Woods.

Laslow strolled charmingly, doing his best to ignore the cold that his shirt and vest did barely anything to mitigate, past the soldiers, who hushed their complaints once they caught a glimpse of him. Behind him, horses snorted and wyverns gave snaps and low growls, each probably from the cold or hearing some suspicious noise that Laslow hoped would result in nothing. He came up near the frontlines, interrupting a conversation between a group of lancers and axe-wielding fighters, who were complaining the most due to their rather exposed choice of dress.

"...these soddin' woods and the bloody Faceless cries in the distance. We're going to run into them, I just know it," declared a lancer. He paused once he caught eye of Laslow, and hurriedly turned to address his secondary commander. Laslow waved a hand and sighed. The lancer relaxed a bit and his teeth chattered.

"How much farther 'til Nestra, sir?" asked a fighter hopefully.

"Shouldn't be much further," answered Laslow, trying to smile, even if he in fact had no idea how much longer the march would be. Still, better to give the men some hope than none at all. Laslow then added, "Soon as we reach Nestra, I'm sure it'll be worth it." To Laslow's relief, a lancer agreed.

"Yeah, I've heard that the Opera House is worth visiting for alone," he spoke up, getting a hearty agreement from the surrounding soldiers.

"Still," said a fighter bitterly. "I honestly wish I were a mage right about now. Fire tome, robe, that would be the life." The surrounding soldiers agreed again, voicing a few more grievances.

"They were the ones complaining when we had to go through Macarath," revealed Laslow, catching the attention of the soldiers. Laslow continued, putting on a whiny voice, "It's so hot here. Why can't I be one of those shirtless axe fighters?", drawing a laugh from the soldiers who'd heard Laslow's impression. Laslow gave a chuckle and smiled to himself at seeing them happy for one of the few times on the trip. However, at the back of Laslow's mind, the thought of meeting a horde of Faceless in the woods remained.

Something whistled past Laslow's ear. He froze, his eyes wide. They darted about, looking for the source of the noise, the surrounding soldiers having barely noticed his alarm. He gazed up into the trees, looking intently for any source of the noise. Now that no threat had been identified, his mind started to make excuses for the noise. Maybe it was a snowflake. Maybe it was just his imagination. Maybe it just a lump of snow having fallen from a tree. It could've been anything. Absolutely anything.

But it gave Laslow no reassurance. Then the whistling came again and Laslow wheeled around just in time to see an object coming toward him at a rapid speed. Laslow drew his sword instinctively and its steel blade collided with the object with a metallic clang. The soldiers around him exchanged shocked glances as Laslow sheathed his sword and bent down to get a look at the object. Laslow felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes widen as he saw what was lying in the snow.

It was a sharp, star-shaped object that was slightly larger than Laslow's outstretched hand. He picked it up to inspect it and felt the familiar weight of steel in his hand. He was wary of the razor-sharp edge of it as he turned it over in his hand while examining it. There was no denying it. Laslow knew what this was and what it meant for the situation.

It was a shuriken, a weapon most commonly associated with ninjas from the neighbouring land of Hoshido. Few others could utilise them efficiently, which meant there was an almost certain chance that Hoshidan ninjas were here in the White Woods. And worse, ninjas were renowned for their ability to remain hidden from view, which meant it was likely the ninjas would be able to see the Nohrian army while they wouldn't be able to see them. Laslow gave a few useless gazes around, up and down which likely proved his theory.

The soldiers around him raised their weapons apprehensively once they got a glimpse of the shuriken in Laslow's hand. Laslow discarded the shuriken and gestured a hand to the soldiers around him, mouthing for them to relax. The soldiers looked confused yet they obeyed his authority, reluctantly lowering their weapons slightly, though many of them were still looking around. The army halted at Laslow's command and he stepped forward gingerly, senses on high alert in case of another shuriken. He came to a stop a few steps from the soldiers behind him and looked up at the treetops, holding his hands in a non-threatening manner.

"Um, hi," he said awkwardly to what he hoped would be the ears of the Hoshidans' commander. Laslow straightened himself up, shaking away his nervousness, before speaking to the darkness above again, "May I meet your commander and perhaps smooth this misunderstanding over?" Laslow aimed a smile upward in a vague attempt to get the Hoshidans' commander to agree to his proposal. He was more partial to getting this sorted out without a battle. Mostly for the potential it had to completely ruin the Nohrians' goal of reaching Nestra and for the cost it would have on both armies, but also slightly for what a certain man might do to Laslow should he come up to him with the news he'd started a full-scale battle with Hoshidans. Laslow had no wish to part with his flesh over this, or ever, for that matter.

Laslow glanced behind him briefly, before turning back and almost jumping out of his boots when he saw a pair of ninjas, one male and the other female, waiting there in front of him. Laslow was drawn to the woman, who had long black hair which was tied up in a white bow at the end, with a thick portion of her hair covering her left eye and the left half of her face. She wore yellow and brown clothing that was light and rather discreet. Definitely a ninja. She didn't carry any visible weapons, yet Laslow was certain a collection of shurikens resided hidden up her sleeve or anywhere else he could imagine.

The second and male ninja was a little less subtle. He wore rough-looking black and blue clothing, complete with a mask that hid the lower half of his face. He had untidy dark brown hair and made no secret of the shuriken that he held threateningly in his hand. Laslow saw his reflection in the steel and barely suppressed a gulp. The most intimidating thing about this ninja though, was the ugly, jagged scar across his face and through his left eye that was forced closed. Laslow would've hated to see the other guy.

Once he'd gotten over his initial shock of seeing the ninjas seemingly appear out of thin air, Laslow recomposed himself, and smiled invitingly at the two ninjas. While the female showed no emotion at this gesture, the male seemed agitated at it as his brow tightened and he glared venomously at Laslow. Laslow shifted about a little uncomfortably after this display of hostility.

Laslow turned at the sound of a horse next to him and his heart dropped as her recognised its rider. Peri. Her blue pigtails with pink tips shook around as she dismounted her horse, her pink armour shaking and the iron sword strapped to her hip clanged against each other noisily. Her unsettlingly wide-eyed smile was plastered on her face.

Peri was not the ideal negotiation partner Laslow had been expecting or hoping for. This was due to her three primary thoughts consisting of stabbing, blood and murder. In that order. This was heightened by her childlike demeanor and speech that caused her to declare her killings in the voice and words of a five-year old, which Laslow never failed to find utterly disturbing. Laslow gave Peri a half hearted smile before turning back to the two ninjas, the male looking extremely unamused, with Laslow giving a subtle shrug. He clasped his hands together and tried his best to appear friendly toward the Hoshidan ninjas.

"So," he began. "It seems we've encountered a slight misunderstanding here. We mean you no harm here. All we want is to pass through." The male ninja eyed Laslow with his single eye suspiciously.

"I don't trust you, Nohrian," he growled. "Why are you here?" Laslow eyed the shuriken that the ninja twirled nervously, before going over the question in his head. It was quite difficult to answer truthfully, unfortunately. Common sense told Laslow that travelling to Nestra to discuss a potential secret pact with the Nestrian leader was about the last thing this ninja wanted to hear. Laslow hurriedly wracked his brain for the least offensive yet believable thing he could respond with.

"We're travelling to Nestra to watch a performance in Cyrkensia," Laslow lied adeptly. He shot a quick look at Peri beside him to keep quiet. He hoped she'd understood. The ninja raised the eyebrow of his good eye while the female's face remained in neutrality.

"Hmph," scoffed the ninja. "Like I'd believe that Nohrian spiel-", though the female ninja put out an arm to restrain her comrade, staring intently at Laslow, probably looking for signs of a lie. Laslow kept as straight a face as possible.

"Control yourself, Saizo," Laslow heard the female ninja tell the male in a low voice. "My name is Kagero. This is Saizo. We are currently in command of the southward fort," she introduced, indicating behind her. Laslow was relieved that Kagero seemed more level-headed and less likely to incite a battle than her comrade. Though, on the other hand, she might be harder to convince of his story.

"Laslow," Laslow introduced himself, extending his hand in greeting. Neither ninja moved and he withdrew it dejectedly after a couple of awkward seconds. He indicated Peri, "This is Peri."

"We will allow you to pass through as soon as you present proof of your intentions," Kagero continued evenly. This wasn't good. They didn't exactly have an official invitation or anything to present to the two sceptical ninjas. Then again, Laslow could think of an excuse.

"I'm afraid the nearest invitations to the performance are far at the back of our army," Laslow admitted. He really hoped Kagero would swallow this lie. The female ninja gave no sign of whether she'd believed or disbelieved him. Instead, she continued her interrogation.

"Perhaps you can explain why common Nohrian soldiers are given the esteemed honour of visiting Nestra?" she asked, looking expectant for an immediate answer. Luckily for Laslow, this one was much easier to answer.

"Why, we also have the honour of escorting Crown Prince Xander of Nohr himself to this performance," Laslow explained. He then continued, eagerly, "Obviously, our prince requires only the finest of Nohr's extensive protection. He will one day succeed King Garon as the King of Nohr, after all." What a wonderful day that would be. Sadly, Laslow would be likely long-gone before that would happen.

"Hmph. 'Finest'," insulted Saizo moodily, and Laslow heard a low growl emit from Peri next to him. Laslow motioned with his hand for Peri to calm down, which might or might have not worked. Laslow opened his mouth to speak, yet Kagero continued.

"We will allow you to pass as soon as you yield proof of your endeavours," she said with the kind of finality that Laslow knew meant she wouldn't take no for an answer. Laslow rushed to think of something that could stall the conversation a bit longer, until he could think of something that might pass as proof.

"Your prince must be a pathetic coward if he needs this many men to protect him," Saizo taunted maliciously. Before Laslow could say anything, Peri spoke up.

"You leave Lord Xander alone, you big bully!" she said aggressively in her babyish voice that somehow still sounded threatening. Or perhaps more so. Laslow turned to Peri to tell her not to aggravate the Hoshidans when Saizo gave a verbal barb back.

"Hmph. Especially considering you people are the kind he employs in his service," he spat back, especially venomous on the mention of 'you people'. Laslow could see this negotiation was going south very quickly and hoped that Kagero saw the same thing. Unfortunately, Kagero didn't seem to be doing much to restrain her partner this time.

"Oh yeah?" Peri retorted savagely. "You'll regret that once we start the killing!" Laslow could swear that underneath his mask, Saizo was smiling at this. Meanwhile, Kagero simply retained her neutral mask.

"Killing?" questioned Saizo, before turning to Laslow. "At a performance?" Laslow tried his best to keep himself sounding truthful.

"No, that's not-" Laslow started, though Peri interrupted him.

"We're gonna go talk to the Nestrians about killing you," Peri blurted out happily, smiling ear to ear. Saizo and Kagero both eyed Laslow fiercely. Laslow tried to think of something that would make the conversation civil again, though he quickly realised there was no salvaging this.

He turned to see Saizo brandishing his shuriken, his single eye aggressive, before he shot forward towards Laslow. Laslow instinctively drew his sword to block the shooting thrust, metal screeching against metal as the force of the blow pushed him back. Behind him, Laslow heard shouts and cries from the soldiers. Sounds of weapons being raised and battle cries filled Laslow's ears.

Then the Hoshidans emerged. They'd been hiding in the snow and they all revealed themselves together, all of them holding katanas, naginatas or clubs, charging at the incoming Nohrian army. Saizo continued to slash away at Laslow with his shuriken, who did his best to parry the ninja's vicious assault. Out of the corner of Laslow's eye, he saw the forces meet, an enormous screech of steel and screams as the first soldiers fell to lance, axe, katana, naginata or club. Laslow saw Peri gleefully stab a katana-wielding samurai in the neck with her sword, before mounting her horse and giving a loud shout of something about killing. He couldn't see Kagero anywhere, though his vision was obscured by Saizo's incoming attacks.

Laslow lost focus for a moment and Saizo capitalised, slashing at Laslow's exposed shoulder, and went in for another which Laslow was able to block better. He ignored the now bleeding cut in his shoulder and matched Saizo's shuriken attacks with the blade of his steel sword, turning it over skilfully to intercept the leaping, lunging attacks of his opponent. Saizo's attacks were fast and deadly, and Laslow barely dodged a glancing blow aimed at his head, blocking a thrown shuriken with his shoulder guard, the shuriken bouncing off it, though the impact was not lost and stunned his shoulder briefly. Laslow brought his sword back around to deflect a second thrown shuriken, before taking a swing at the now in-range Saizo, who dodged Laslow's rather sluggish attack with ease, before attacking him at melee range again. Laslow raced to deflect the fast incoming attacks, the odd blow cutting him open. Laslow gripped his sword with both hands and his next block resulted in a blade lock that had him wrestling for position against Saizo. Saizo glared at him furiously, before using Laslow's force to push himself back in a backflip, before tossing a pair of shurikens at Laslow. Laslow ducked the two of them, before looking up to see an airborne Saizo headed for him, shuriken in hand. Laslow evaded the downward strike with side flip, landing acrobatically on his feet, before slashing away a shuriken thrown at him.

Laslow heard a whistle above him to see a flock of arrows overhead, suddenly remembering the Hoshidan fort that Kagero mentioned. Laslow hid as best he could behind his shoulder guard, shielding his face and making himself as slim as possible. The arrows fell like rain, and Laslow heard anguished and surprised screams behind him, yet miraculously no impact hit him. Laslow almost breathed a sigh of relief before a shuriken in his peripheral vision jogged his memory. He took the shuriken's impact with his shoulder guard, the star bouncing off the guard noisily. Laslow wheeled around to block an attack from a reappeared Saizo, caught in a another blade lock against the ninja. Laslow pushed with surprising strength that caught Saizo off guard and the ninja was reduced to his knees. Laslow wrestled determinedly pushing his sword downward, trying to crush the ninja. Then the ninja sweeped him.

Laslow gave a surprised cry as his legs were taken out from underneath him and he fell with a plop in the deep snow. Laslow rolled over instinctively as Saizo plunged a shuriken into the snow where he'd been. Laslow scrambled to his feet, getting to his knees before being forced to block Saizo's strike, and found no hilarity in the irony of his current situation as Saizo pressed downward against his sword. He could see the blade of his sword gradually move closer to his neck.

In desperation, Laslow rolled backward, his sword's blade scraping against the shuriken, and the shuriken's plunge only barely missing him. Laslow rolled through and pushed himself to his feet as he struggled to block Saizo's new onslaught, blocking the slashes with desperation instead of skill. He took a glimpse of his surroundings, seeing the battle rage around him and Saizo, and becoming aware that a tree was right behind him.

Seemingly, Saizo became aware of the tree at the same time because he booted Laslow forcefully in the chest before he could block. Laslow went hurtling back into the tree, his back slamming against it, the tree shaking and releasing snow from it, which fell down onto Laslow's head. He resisted the temptation to shake it off and immediately sidestepped to evade Saizo's lunging attack. Laslow had hoped the shuriken would be stuck in the tree trunk, yet Saizo pulled it out with ease, and Laslow dodged the shuriken as Saizo threw it at him. Laslow gave another glance behind him and turned back to block Saizo's capitalising slice.

Laslow forcefully kicked Saizo in the chest, making some space between them that Laslow used to recover. His eyes darted around as he leaned against a short mound nearby. Laslow sprang from his leaning spot as a stray spirit of a dragon flew plast, gnashing its jaws. He turned back to see Saizo had recovered and was back to tossing shurikens at him. Laslow evaded them precisely, before stepping back as his adversary produced a new shuriken and charged at him like a bull. Laslow deflected his attacks, being forced to step back and almost tripping over as he realised they were now ascending. He risked a glimpse backward to see they were now fighting while ascending a small slope that was very quickly gaining in steepness. Laslow felt himself begin to sink in the deep snow, though knew he could also use this to his advantage. Once he blocked another blow, he kicked a mound of snow into Saizo's face. The surprised ninja spat a collection of curses aimed at Laslow as Laslow started to attack Saizo with slashes, dips and thrusts, the recovering ninja dodging and evading them. Soon, he was back on the attack and Laslow and Saizo continued to trade blows with each other as they ascended the slope. Laslow kicked another load of snow forward, which Saizo was ready for this time, dodging and blowing past Laslow, slicing at his side with his shuriken. Laslow gave a gasp of pain, before wheeling around to begin attacking Saizo, who blocked his advances with his shuriken.

As they advanced, Laslow realised they were now on solid ground, atop a cliff with fighting going on below them. Laslow looked away and focused on his adversary, dueling intensely against the ferocious ninja. Laslow blocked a downward slash with with a raise of his blade and for a few seconds the two were there, arms raised with weapons screeching against each other. Then Saizo launched a surprise kick to Laslow, stunning Laslow and sending him stumbling backward precariously close to the edge. Laslow stopped himself, waving his arms wildly, before sidestepping Saizo's attack and continuing the duel blocking strikes and slashes and countering with thrusts and slices with his sword, a few hitting their mark and slicing through the ninja's drab clothes and cutting his flesh. He showed nothing from it, though, and simply continued on the attack, unswayed by anything Laslow could do to him. Laslow ducked and dodged his strikes, ever mindful of the edge, while the ninja seemed reckless enough to risk it. And it was working. Laslow found himself pulling out far too many last-second blocks and parries for a lifetime, and even yielding a few hits, the shuriken cutting into his flesh with only a glancing blow yet a blow all the same. The shuriken was doing its job, however, and Laslow felt the power of his blocks and blows gradually weaken. After several agonising minutes, a weak slash put him open for Saizo to quickly slash him across the chest. Laslow gave a gasp of pain that barely got out before Saizo kicked him.

Laslow went flying, suddenly aware his feet were no longer on the ground and he was falling. Then came the impact, somewhat muffled by the snow, yet he could still feel the ground below, solid ground that his entire back had just fallen on. Laslow's back was in agony, and he writhed around on the ground, rolling over, as though it would somehow make the giant area of pain on his back go away. Laslow could barely feel his ribs either, clawing at the snow with his hands, his sword somewhere only the gods knew. Laslow let out a cry as he tried to crawl away, outstretching his hand, trying to get away.

A strike of pain went through him, and to his horror, he saw a shuriken embedded in his hand. Blood was starting to leak out and Laslow gave a shocked and anguished cry, yet didn't stop. He kicked with his legs, trying to force himself to his feet. Laslow kicked up to his feet only to charge forward and fall over again, face first into the snow. Laslow growled, gritting his teeth as he heard a whistle of wind and knew that Saizo was throwing shurikens at him. Laslow used his good hand to force himself up and started to run.

Laslow ran fast, holding his chest with his uninjured hand, his mind not focusing on his warrior's pride of never running from battle and instead was on survival prospects. Of which they were not good. He was injured and unarmed. Laslow ran through the woods, not encountering any battles though passed a few corpses on his way, sunken in the snow. The cold, which he'd been able to ignore during his duel with Saizo, caught up with him now, and he started to shiver as he ran faster and faster. He only half-remembered where the battle had started and prayed that a Nohrian garrison had been established in his absence by some smart soldier. Because Peri wasn't the sort of person to think of that kind of thing.

Laslow's heart leapt when he saw set-up tents and convoys hidden away in a small clearing in the woods. Laslow sprinted for it, praying to the gods it was the Nohrian one, scanning it quickly to confirm. The emergence of a lancer from one of the tents confirmed it and Laslow almost sobbed with joy, at the prospect of living. The lancer stopped suddenly as soon as he saw Laslow before recognising him and racing to him as Laslow sprinted into the Nohrian camp.

"S-sir!" he exclaimed, surprised. "Are you alright?" Laslow turned to him and the words fell right out of him.

"Get me a sword or two!" he gasped desperately. The lancer didn't need telling twice and raced off to what Laslow hoped would be the weapons convoy. Meanwhile, Laslow examined him hand and winced as he saw the shuriken still pierced in it. Laslow moved his fingers gingerly, before gripping the point of the shuriken with his good hand and closed his eyes. Laslow had never done this before, and now was not the time to make the 'first time for everything' statement.

Laslow tore the shuriken out of his hand, ripping the bloodstained star right out, probably slicing through a few more important things and threw it to the ground, barely resisting a roar of pain and instead falling to his knees with an anguished gasp, holding his hand, clenching his teeth tightly. Laslow panted, eying the shuriken that now sat harmlessly in the snow, splattered with red. The lancer returned with a collection of three swords and Laslow rose to his feet, still holding his hand that screamed in agony. Laslow unclenched his good hand and took tore off a section of the bottom part of his shirt, the material threading and he snapped it off once it was large enough. Laslow wrapped it firmly around his injured hand, whispering to himself this would make the pain go away. The lancer stood frozen, mouth agape, looking at him with wide eyes. Laslow tied the material up, pulling it tight to make sure it would stay on his hand, before turning to the lancer, forcing a smile on his face that probably looked far too anguished to reassure anyone.

"All better," he breathed reassuringly, mainly to himself before taking the three swords that the lancer had gotten him, thanking him as he took them. The lancer asked him whether he needed a vulnerary, which Laslow denied, despite the eternal agony that his body was in from the fall off the cliff. Laslow spat out blood as he strapped the three swords to his belt, two on one side and another on the other. They were useful, the young lancer certainly knew his swords. Steel, silver and a vicious-looking, jagged-edge blade by the name of killing edge. Sounded like one of Odin's ridiculous names, though Laslow knew the sword was renowned for its lethality, so perhaps the name fit.

Laslow thanked the lancer again, before turning back around, beating his ribs in a vain attempt to numb them to the pain. He moved the fingers of his injured hand, checking them carefully, before listening to the sounds of the battle in the distance. Laslow found his bravery once again and ran toward the sounds from the Nohrian garrison, more determined than ever. Round two was about to begin.

 _ **Peri**_

Peri rode through the battlefield and through anyone in her way, a fetish grin upon her face as her lance separated a nearby samurai's head from the rest of his body. Her horse neighed moodily as she directed it around toward anything that moved and skewered her lance though distracted spear fighter's head, helmet and all. Peri removed the lance, letting the blood spray, relishing the wondrousness of it all. This had turned out better than she'd hoped. Not only would they be going to Nestra for some super-duper important meeting, but a whole army of Hoshidans had showed up, ready right as Peri's slaughter itch had met its most agonising. Bloody-faced and smiling ear-to-ear, Peri targeted a samurai who clipped his shoulder upon her lance as he tried to dodge with a backflip. Peri glared at him, and buried her lance within his stomach as he looked up her from her horse-mounted porch above him. Peri giggled as blood spattered about. It was like a bloody wonderland for her.

"One and two and three and four," Peri sang merrily as she swung her newly-drawn sword around as she cantered through the battlefield, lopping off whatever got within her reach. Some brave and stupid oni savage wearing questionable clothing for the wintry conditions charged at her, emitting a loud battle cry, hoisting his club above his head. Peri snickered, before rearing her horse up, causing him to halt his charge, stumbling to a halt in the snow below her horse, before Peri brought her horse and sword down upon him, crushing him, his head giving the most wonderful flattening sound as it went under her horse's hoof.

A whistling caught her ear and a dink sounded near her shoulder. Peri turned around fascinatedly to see an arrow poking out of shoulder, having pierced the armour, yet barely. It didn't hurt, yet Peri looked around for this soon-to-be wrongdoer.

No archers in sight, but a quick look upward showed Nohrian wyvern riders and Hoshidan pegasus whatevers doing battle. Peri smiled appreciatively as a wyvern rider wielding an absurdly broad axe cleaved off the head of a pegasus, the headless corpse and its rider falling to the battlefield below in the distance. That guy deserved a promotion in Peri's eyes.

Peri's eyes now snapped to focus upon a female mounted on a strange golden bird, Hoshidan bow aimed at a wyvern, letting the arrow fly and at once another wyvern crashed into the snow. Peri grinned gleefully. She knew it instinctively. The weird bird woman would be her next victim.

Peri giggled, sheathing her sword, before unsecuring a javelin from the side of her horse and gripping it tightly. Peri hummed to herself as she lined up the javelin to the offending bird woman, twirling the javelin in a casual manner. She broke into a smile as she locked on, ready to let the javelin fly true to dispel this most annoying bird woman.

A shock at her side caused Peri to lose focus, almost dropping the javelin, and Peri turned, looking around, pouting. She resecured the javelin, drawing her steel lance and spun the lance to deflect two incoming stars aimed at her. Peri squinted menacingly at the female ninja who dared interrupt her killing time.

It was the same female ninja that she'd seen before, at the overly-long negotiations, clad in grey and yellow with long raven-coloured hair. Kagey-something, Peri thought. She'd have to do, then. Life simply wasn't fair sometimes.

Peri made the best of a bad situation, and charged toward the ninja, lance drawn, ready to skewer her. The ninja didn't move until the very last minute, where she vanished right before Peri's eyes. Peri pulled her horse to a halt, confused. The ninja had been right there, she was sure of it. Then she wasn't. Peri turned her horse around and gave a yelp as she ducked a shuriken coming for her head. She reemerged, pouting at the ninja who stood there, oh-so serious. Peri charged the ninja again, not taking her eye off of the ninja, would surely get her this time...

The ninja disappeared again. Peri fumed, frustrated. How was she supposed to kill the ninja when she kept disappearing?! Really, the nerve of some people. Out of the corner of her eye, Peri could see another incoming shuriken, and ducked her head. The ninja was just out of range, yet Peri stabbed anyway as a warning blow, before bringing her lance upward, taking a bit of snow with it. She signalled for a small burst forward from her horse before the ninja could recover, and only just missed her with another stab. Peri swung her lance across, yet the ninja dodged it with an immediate duck, hand springing over to get herself out of Peri's range. Peri tore her javelin from its holder and lobbed it forcefully at the ninja.

Another bare miss. Peri charged forward in another stab with her lance at her irritating enemy, only for the ninja to dodge once again. With her free hand, Peri snatched her javelin poking out from the snow, resecuring it, and turning around to face her disappeared opponent. Shurikens flew targetedly toward Peri, and she turned to make herself slim to barely cause the shurikens to miss her. Peri hoisted her lance and charged again at the reappeared ninja, whose face had not changed.

"Stand still this time!" Peri whined irritably. The ninja failed to obey this, and ducked as she dashed forward, leaping up in a flip toward Peri. Peri's eyes widened as she raised her lance and the ninja slashed downward as she flipped through the air over Peri's head, the shuriken slashing against the lance. Something struck Peri in the back with a jolt before she could turn around, and Peri gave a cry. She turned her horse around angrily. No more games now.

Peri charged at the ninja, extending her lance to its maximum range and getting within a hair's breadth of the ninja who dodged in a more desperate manner than before. Peri brought her lance across in a sweep that cut through air with a swish. Peri stabbed forward, this time getting tear at the female ninja's clothing, pulling back and slicing through the yellow cloak she wore. Peri gave the ninja a slasher smile, before she temporarily discarded her lance in favour of drawing her iron sword and brought it down heavily. The ninja blocked it with her shuriken in desperation, her teeth gritted as Peri looked down at her gleefully. The defiant ones were always the best.

Peri started to laugh maniacally as she watched her sword gradually tilt downward toward the ninja, who struggled with her shuriken, clutching it tightly with two hands. Suddenly, the ninja shifted her weight to let Peri through and slipped away from Peri's downward sword. She chucked her shuriken at Peri's face forcefully and Peri's eyes widened. The shuriken glanced right past her exposed eye, piercing her face, and Peri shut her eyes instinctively, feeling blinded, dropping her sword to clutch her wound. Two impacts shot in Peri's back, crunching against her armour, before a more focused and narrow impact exploded in her shoulder. Peri gave a series of screams, nearly biting her tongue, before slumping over her horse. Instinct let her keep a tight grip of the reins to avoid falling off, and Peri tentatively moved the shoulder with two arrows lodged in it. Peri turned around, spitting blood and glaring hatefully at her adversaries.

Not only was the infuriating yellow-clad female ninja she'd fought there, but so was the strange bird-riding lady who'd shot at her twice now. The golden bird had landed on its two skinny legs and gave a squawking roar from its beak at Peri, while the rider, a scar-faced woman, aimed a bow at Peri. The male, one-eyed and surly-looking ninja from before was also there, the one who'd been mean to Lord Xander. Rage coursed through Peri's veins as she stared fiercely at her enemies.

"Your screams was divine," said the bird-riding woman gleefully. "Simply divine." Peri pouted at her.

"Oh yeah?" Peri fired back. "I'll make you scream, and it'll be way diviner!" The bird-riding woman chuckled amusedly, while the male ninja muttered something.

"And they'll be blood!" Peri added in a one-upping manner. "Lots of blood!" That brought her smile back and the bird-riding woman laughed again before letting her arrow fly. Peri ducked it reactively, bending down and snatching her sword, buried in the snow, before repositioning herself and letting loose a cry as she charged at the three Hoshidans. The bird-rider woman's bird thing flapped its wings and soared into the air, a smile upon her scarred face. The two ninjas frustratingly disappeared, as Peri struck with her sword, wheeling her horse around and slashing at a shuriken in mid-air. Peri charged at the male ninja as soon as he appeared, bringing her sword down strongly. The male ninja dodged the blow and continued to evade Peri's repeated sword swings and slashes with a quick series of acrobatics. After a tightly-landed backflip, he charged forward slashing at her horse's legs with his shuriken, causing the horse to rear up and neigh loudly. Peri clutched the reins, almost falling off from the unexpected rear up, catching the ninja incoming toward her. The ninja struck her across the back, scratching his shuriken across a chink in her armour, slicing her flesh. Peri gave another cry as her horse landed and Peri bared through the pain, tearing her javelin from its position and tossing it at the ninja. He dodged it, shooting a shuriken into injured shoulder, lodging it in there. Peri gave a pained growl, before brandishing her sword and charging toward the ninja with a thrust, and he blocked it with his shuriken, ensuring it sailed past his face before he leapt up kicked Peri in the side of the head.

Peri felt low pitched screech around her, hearing nothing else, and felt dazed and confused, barely clutching her sword and the reins. A shuriken to her chest snapped her back into reality. Peri skipped groaning, and ordered her horse forward quickly, catching the ninja off-guard and nearly trampling him as he side rolled out of the way. Another impact in Peri's back and a head turn showed that the female ninja hadn't forgotten her.

Peri turned her horse around, still feeling woozy from the kick, and was now aware her ear was bleeding as the familiar tiny roll of blood dripped down the side of her face. Peri shook her head, trying to focus, sending the blood spattering everywhere. Peri searched for her javelin, yet it was nowhere to be found, probably buried under the snow or a body. Peri attacked the nearest ninja, the female one, with a sword slash, yet the ninja quickly dodged it, and Peri quickly turned to deflect a thrown shuriken from the male. She turned her attention back to the female, deflecting her melee jumping slash and pushing her away. She looked back at the male, only to see nothing.

Then the male ninja emerged like he were shot from a ballista, and aerially charged into Peri, tackling her mid-air. Peri gave a cry as he collided with her, knocking her off of her horse and sending her flying to the ground, rolling in her armour and blood in the snow.

Peri stopped rolling, flopping over on her back, blood running from her ear and mouth, staring up at the dark treetops. That image was cut out as the male ninja appeared, grasping his hand around her throat and lifting her up with that arm, shuriken in the other hand while Peri dazedly looked on, her breath faltering.

Then Peri fell to the ground, sinking into the snow. She rolled her head over to see the male ninja beside her, face down in the snow, though still moving. And then she heard the suave and passionate voice.

"Miss me?"

 _ **Laslow**_

Laslow regretted his heroics once Saizo rolled over through the snow and sprang to his feet, with a one-eyed glare of fury. Maybe the sneak attack and dashing one-liner wasn't the best idea. Laslow raised his steel sword to block Saizo's incoming shuriken attack, parrying the strike and letting the ninja run right past Laslow. Laslow went on the offensive immediately, nearly beheading Saizo when he ducked the swing at the last moment. Laslow thrusted forward with his sword, jabbing at Saizo who dodged with dips and leans, before Laslow swung low, forcing the ninja to jump. Laslow caught him with a foot sweep as he landed, planting him in the snow. Laslow jammed the sword downward toward Saizo's chest, yet was met with snow as Saizo rolled out of the way. Saizo performed several consecutive backflips as he sprang to his feet, getting distance between him and Laslow.

Laslow stood his ground as Saizo leapt high into the air, snarling, "Die!" at Laslow as he came downward like a falling meteor. Laslow could only barely block the crushing blow with his sword, pushing Saizo away with a well-placed kick to his chest. Before Laslow could catch his breath, the familiar whistling sounded in his ears and leapt for cover as two shurikens flew over his head. He scrambled to his feet to see Kagero the one responsible - the female ninja revealing two more shurikens from her sleeves that appeared in her hands. Kagero tossed the first as Laslow ran toward her, halting to dodge the lethal star, before stepping over and spinning his body and bringing his sword around to catch her in the waist. She blocked it shakily, the blades barely missing her waist, before Laslow, wasting no time, brought his sword downward, forcing her to block again. He pressed downward, though Kagero then showed unexpected strength to push Laslow back, almost causing him to fall over. Recovering quickly, Laslow stuck out his hand to her.

"You know, milady," he began, trying not to sound desperate. "I'm certain this matter can be resolved if we simply talk it out. Preferably over a good cup of tea." Laslow smiled at her genuinely, though Kagero seemed to be unamused.

"That ship has sailed," she said tersely. "This was your doing, Nohrian. Your lies and your murderous intent. Hoshido will not stand for it." That wasn't the answer Laslow was hoping for. Even the enemy females refused to go out with him.

"Wait," he said, trying to keep his voice in its friendly, inviting and charming performance. "You and I are the only sane people here. No one needs to die." Kagero glared at him with the kind of look that Laslow recognised. It was when a girl wanted to punch him in the face. Or kick him in the shin. It varied.

"Your compatriot seems to disagree," Kagero said icily. Laslow turned to see Peri, remounted upon her horse, yet still worse for the wear, locked in visceral combat with Saizo, a psychotic grin on her face. Laslow turned back to Kagero, wondering if he should say that Peri is a prisoner being escorted or an unwanted hitchhiker.

"That's-" he started, yet Kagero didn't let him finish the sentence, already in the process of dashing forward, shuriken in hand. Laslow raised his sword quickly, the two steel blades giving a screeching clash. Kagero yet again showed her surprising strength as Laslow felt his feet slip back through the snow. Laslow threw his body to the right, the edge of Kagero's shuriken catching his arm as he flipped sideways out of the blade lock. Laslow adeptly parried Kagero's quick strikes, matching each of her powerful strikes, yet he could see they didn't quite have the finesse of Saizo's. A gap in her offense revealed itself and Laslow took it, Kagero barely blocking his opportunistic blow to her chest. Laslow attacked her proficiently, targeting her weak areas, and landing a few glancing blows to her side.

Out of the corner of his eye, Laslow could see a Nohrian knight, greatshield in hand, warding off a samurai with blow to the gut from his lance. Laslow decided to try something new, and, after landing a glancing slash across Kagero's stomach, cutting her uniform open, he hopped toward the knight's shield. He kicked off of it and flew into the air, spinning his body and his sword. The move caught Kagero off-guard, and Laslow brought his sword down upon her shoulder, likely breaking a few bones.

Kagero gave a cry of pain, and collapsed to her knees, clutching a jagged, bleeding scar across her shoulder. Laslow knew now would be the best opportunity to finish her off, and gripped his sword tightly. He gave a glance around to get a feel of how the battle was going. It still seemed rather even and certainly very bloody for both sides. Laslow blocked a shuriken meant for a dark mage with his shoulder guard, before deflecting a second shuriken before the ninja responsible took had an arrow shot through his head from a hired outlaw. A wyvern rider flew over Laslow's head in hot pursuit of a sky knight, axe at the ready. Laslow's eyes zeroed in on Peri, still battling Saizo. Peri missed with a blow from her steel lance, and Saizo peppered her with shuriken shots, most hitting their target and embedding themselves in Peri's armour. Laslow took a brief look at Kagero, before clenched his sword and ran towards Saizo, ready to slay him with a running stab through the chest. Saizo's good eye caught side of Laslow and he leapt up and rolled over Laslow, who was forced to duck as Saizo used him as a platform to evade his attack. Laslow skidded in the snow, wheeling around and deflected a thrown shuriken with his sword. He moved to attack Saizo, swinging and spinning his sword as Saizo parried them all with frustrating finesse.

Now Saizo attacked Laslow, nailing him with a kick to the side, before dodging to the side as a lance-wielding Peri charged in. Laslow himself only just got out Peri's lance's range, before resuming his battle with Saizo once Peri shot past. Laslow blocked Saizo's strike, gritting his teeth as Saizo leaned in, murderous intent in his one eye.

"You're a coward, Nohrian," Saizo spat savagely. "Your death will not be a gentle one. You and that crazy girl can rot in hell." Laslow couldn't stop himself grinning and firing back at his adversary.

"Well, you have one part right there," Laslow smirked. "I think you two would be a perfect match." Saizo's eye flared with rage, and Laslow's smile fell as the ninja roared angrily and broke away from the blade lock, flipping backward. He then looked upward, and Laslow looked at him, confused, before Laslow heard a sliver of wind behind him. Laslow dived down as an arrow flew over his head, looking up to see Saizo mid-air, ready to impale him while he lay on the ground. Laslow rolled away desperately, trying not to cut himself with his sword while he rolled. He got to his knees right before Saizo attacked him viciously, forcing Laslow to block a hard strike. Laslow rolled backward, briefly feeling the freezing snow coat his hair, before he stood up, shaking his head to release the snow. He blocked Saizo's shuriken attack, and this time he managed to block Saizo's kick with his sword, hearing the ninja emit a growl of pain as he kicked the blade of the sword. Laslow heard the sound of galloping close behind and dived out of the way, catching a glimpse of Peri assault Saizo with a heavy blow from her sword. Laslow scrambled to his feet before he felt the now-familiar feeling of a shuriken shooting itself into his back, wheeling around and being greeted by an unwelcome sight.

Kagero had recovered, still clutching the grievous wound Laslow had inflicted upon her, yet now armed with a jagged-edge throwing knife. Laslow clutched his sword tightly, ready to engage the angry ninja.

An explosion blew snow around battlefield, and Laslow felt himself launched away by the shockwave. Laslow was thrown back, landing in the snow, barely missing colliding with a tree. He looked up, shaking snow and ice from his vision and hair. The place where the explosion had taken place was completely desecrated. It was like Valflame itself had come down. Small patches of flames surrounded the area the explosion had taken place, and all in the area had taken the blast. Likely dead Nohrians and Hoshidans lay scattered about, most of them looking badly burnt. Peri lay facedown near the centre of the blast, in a pool of blood, her purple hair all over the place and messy, her pigtails having come undone while her armour had taken a beating, crunched, cracked and burnt. Her horse also lay nearby on its side, likely dead. Saizo, too, lay bleeding and hopefully dead, on his back, a large hole in his clothes and his exposed chest a black, burnt mark.

Laslow crawled to his feet while he soaked in the apocalyptic scene, wondering what on earth had caused this and whether it would happen again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kagero on her feet, mutter a nasty curse under her breath, before running to the ruinous site. Around them, the Nohrian and Hoshidan soldiers had stopped fighting, most with gaping mouths of shock at what had taken place. Laslow watched Kagero rush to the side of Saizo's body, before yelling a command.

Instantly, the ground beneath Laslow exploded, and he let out a cry, though wasn't lifted off of his feet. Instead a wide barrier of smoke rose from the ground, obscuring Laslow's vision and making his eyes water. The smoke reached his throat and he coughed, almost keeled over, dropping his sword. Laslow waved a hand at the smoke as noises ringed in his ears, some sounding human, others not. He waved more, trying to clear it from the air, before it finally started to clear. Laslow blinked rapidly, before noticing the battlefield was now empty. The Hoshidans had completely disappeared, probably having retreated to the wayward fort Kagero had mentioned. Laslow ran a hand through his hair, the confused Nohrian soldiers around him all standing idle, looking to him for what to do. Laslow glanced around, before shrugging.

"Establish a garrison here," he said, his voice sounding more strained than he remembered it. "Retrieve the convoys and tents, and set up here. Anyone who knows how to use a staff, heal the wounded. Then take a break," Laslow added, forcing a smile, which seemed to go over well with the nearest soldiers, a few lancers and fighters dropping their weapons in sweet relief. Laslow sheathed his own sword and caught a glimpse of Peri, still lying in a pool of her own blood, bloodsoaked and burnt. The humanity in Laslow overwrote the number of times she'd tried to kill him and he raced to her side. He knelt down, beginning to strip off her burnt armour when she awoke.

"Laslow!" she said brightly to him, seemingly unaware of the fact there were two arrows poking through her shoulder and that her bleeding body was littered with shuriken cuts. The cynic in Laslow was only slightly disappointed Peri was still alive. Then again, every life counted, even Peri's.

"Did we win?" asked Peri, smiling with blood over her face.

"Um, I think so," answered Laslow. Technically, the Hoshidan army had retreated. Of course, it didn't seem likely they would just give up and let the Nohrians proceed through the White Woods. But they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Yay!" exclaimed Peri. "That was a good workout," she said happily.

"Yeah, sure," replied Laslow uncertainly. He looked around a motioned a troubadour over to him and Peri. She rode her small pony over and dismounted, Laslow moving out of the way while the troubadour checked Peri's wounds. Laslow was tempted to ask her about his still-sore hand, yet the bleeding seemed to have subsided now. In the distance, Laslow could see the convoys incoming. Turning around, he looked in the direction of what he believed would be the Hoshidan fort. Laslow sighed. Hopefully they'd be able to defeat the Hoshidans before Lord Xander arrived. It was likely reports of the battle had reached him by now, yet Xander wasn't the kind to recklessly charge into battle. It seemed Laslow and Peri would be on their own for this one. Unless Peri was deemed too injured to continue. Then it would fall to the hands of Laslow. He sighed again. It was going to be a long day today.

 _ **Kagero**_

Kagero eyed the recently-healed and awakened Saizo with great disapproval. She'd known him a long time, and this wasn't the first time he'd pulled a stunt like this. Yet now Kagero knew he'd gone too far. His large explosion, triggered by hidden pyrotechnics beneath his ninja uniform, had killed members of both armies, and though it was likely he'd slain the sociopathic Nohrian girl, the cost was absolutely unnecessary to both sides. Many Hoshidan soldiers had died in the explosion, being skewered by the ensuing shrapnel. Kagero herself had landed on her injured shoulder when she'd been knocked back by the shockwave of the explosion.

She flexed her recently-healed shoulder uneasily. The shrine maiden had told her it would be completely healed by now, though she could still feel a tingling in it and it was quite stiff and rigid. She remembered how it had happened. The Nohrian commander, Laslow, had kicked off of his own soldier's shield and delayed his attack to strike her at her most desperate. It was both impressive and despicable. And before that, he'd had the gall to try to renegotiate with her. After he'd openly lied. Albeit, the sole evidence he'd lied was from the sociopathic and bloodlusted woman, Peri. Kagero hadn't trusted either of them the moment she'd seen them. Yet she'd given them a chance. And they'd lied to her.

Kagero shook her head and refocused her gaze on Saizo, who had sat up in his bed and was now looking around aimlessly, before focusing his sole eye upon her.

"Hello, Kagero," he said, his thick voice no longer slightly muffled by his mask. It had been blown off in the explosion.

"Saizo," Kagero replied thinly. Then she took a breath, "What were you thinking?" He replied by avoiding her gaze.

"I am always prepared to die in combat," he answered finally, still not meeting her gaze.

"That's not what I'm talking about," said Kagero, drawing a raised eyebrow from her partner. "This conflict could've been avoided. Yet you attacked first and thought second."

"Hmph," replied Saizo. "I knew they were lying. And I was right. They should've never come here. I attacked him before he could attack me."

"And that stunt with the pyrotechnics," continued Kagero. "Was that worth it? Just to kill one of their commanders and a few Nohrian soldiers? At the cost of your own life and our soldiers' own?" Saizo still refused to look at her and, after a few moments, removed himself from the bed. Kagero watched him as he stripped off his ruined and ripped shirt, before he left the room, presumably to his own quarters. She shook her head, before exiting the room herself.

Kagero walked down the hallway, refocusing her mind on the Nohrians, who would surely attack the fort soon. She passed doorways of recovering Hoshidan soldiers, as well as more than a few fresh reinforcements who hadn't been present for the initial attack. They were a valuable advantage they had over the Nohrians. Most of their archers - yumi-wielders who could snipe targets from afar, and diviners - magic-wielders who drew upon the power of spirits in combat through ancient scrolls, had been uninvolved in the conflict, which meant they were plentiful. And now one diviner who Kagero knew well approached her.

"Orochi," Kagero greeted her friend with a smile. Orochi returned it, though hers contained her ever-present mischievous edge.

"Kagero!" Orochi said, clearly elated. "Are you alright? I foresaw you would be involved in a great battle here." Kagero gave a small, forced chuckle.

"I wouldn't call it 'great' but yes, I have," Kagero replied. Then, when she saw her friend's immediate concern, she added, "Don't worry. I'm completely fine." Relief flooded across Orochi's face.

"Delightful!" Orochi exclaimed happily. "And how is my second favourite ninja?" Kagero thought about this for a second, before realising who Orochi was referring to.

"Saizo caused this battle by attacking one of the Nohrian commanders. Even if it was clear they were lying," Kagero replied, casting her gaze away. "Then he triggered his explosives and nearly killed himself." Orochi laughed cheekily.

"Sounds about right," Orochi smirked. "We'd better fix up this mess, shall we?" Kagero nodded.

"I'll assign you command of the diviners division. Focus spirits upon the Nohrian wyverns first, then assist the back ranks. Inform the archers to do the same. Could you also tell Reina to focus on the air at first? Hopefully she and her kinshi bird will be able to give us control of the skies," Kagero finished laying out her orders, and Orochi smiled again, drawing a scroll from her sleeve.

"Yes, ma'am," she said. "I'm sure Reina will be delighted."

 _ **Laslow**_

Laslow wasn't particularly happy when, right in the middle of drafting his letter to the very rear legion to tell Xander everything was going well, Peri burst in, sword in hand, tearing a hole in the entrance to his personal tent. In truth, he almost jumped right out his boots at the sight and only barely withstood the urge to scream in panic and probably lose much of his dignity in the process. Laslow carefully rose to his feet, as calm as he could, unable to take his eye off the glint of Peri's blade and the (many) memories of Peri spontaneously trying to murder him out of sheer boredom.

"LASLOW!" squealed Peri in a voice that Laslow thought would qualify as 'excited'. Then came the last two words Laslow wanted to hear, "I'm bored!"

"Peri..." said Laslow, trying to manage his voice into his usual friendly, charming tone. "Good to see you're feeling better."

"YEP! I feel sooooo much better!" said Peri gleefully. Then her voice changed to a more malevolent one, "And I just realised: I've gone nearly two hours without killing anyone. So I really need to get it out of my system. Right. Now." Laslow felt his hand reflexively go to his sword at his hip, which caused him to remember he wasn't dressed for combat. Fortunately, he'd had some success with talking Peri down from murder before. It had a fifty-percent success rate. Laslow gave a gulp.

"'Now' is a little excessive, Peri, and I'm sure you could use a small rest first," Laslow reasoned, darting his eyes around for the nearest blade he could use.

"Nope!" said Peri with murderous glee. "I'm fine right now and I need to do my thing right now!" Laslow racked his brain to come up with a good excuse that would satisfy Peri. Likely it would have to involve murder. Fortunately, there was an enemy army still in the way of their objective. Even if Laslow didn't feel morally right unleashing Peri upon the Hoshidans.

"I'm glad you're here and saying that, Peri," spun Laslow. "Because we still have a Hoshidan fort to break through on our way to Nestra. And they'll be plenty of soldiers for you to... kill... there. In fact, we'll be marching soon, so we'll probably meet their defenses soon." Laslow really hoped Peri bought this. Her face morphed into an expression of consideration, clearly thinking while Laslow stood before her dumbly, still looking for a nearby weapon.

"Ok, fine..." said Peri reluctantly. "I'll rein it in for now. But we better march soon!" Then Peri made a new hole with her sword in the wall of Laslow's tent and stepped out of it. Laslow looked at the two holes depressedly, before wondering for the thousandth time why Lord Xander had chosen Peri as his retainer.

* * *

Now dressed in his military uniform once again, a thick grey shirt and navy vest over it, gloves, pants and boots, as well as an elegantly-crafted shoulder guard on his left shoulder. It had certainly taken a beating during the last battle, though it was still in good use fortunately. Strapped to his belt was a collection of swords, the steel and silver swords he'd used in the last battle, though he'd had them sharpened and oiled a bit to give them a better lifespan. The killing edge he'd found had weighed him down a bit too much and he preferred to be lighter on his feet. He patted the pearl chain attached to his belt and felt a small twinge of homesickness. He wondered how everyone was doing, back home, probably still wondering where he, Owain and Severa were and how they'd seemingly vanished out of thin air. All three of them had promised to tell the others the full story once they returned home. Yet that future still seemed so far away. And it didn't feel like they were any closer to achieving their ultimate goal.

Laslow made his way through the new Nohrian garrison, doing his best to ignore everyone staring at him expectantly, awaiting his orders. He was still getting used to this whole 'commander' gig, and it certainly wasn't easy for him. He now knew the pressure that Chrom and Robin had felt in leading an army, being responsible for every life, every decision counting. It was a pressure he didn't like, and he greatly preferred when it hadn't been him giving the orders.

Laslow shook the thoughts of doubt from his head and resumed his customary smile as he strolled through the assembling soldiers. Yet still the thoughts of doubt persisted in the back of his mind. Every time, telling him how many times he'd nearly died today. And there would be many more times. One might not be nearly.

Laslow reached the front of the army, and caught sight of Peri near him, mounted upon a new horse and in a spare set of armour and greatly cleaned up from her previous wounds. Traces still existed, a faint outline of the scar near her left eye barely visible. She looked at him expectantly and impatiently. He gave her his best reassuring grin, which he'd admit was more for himself. Laslow cleared his throat and faced the army, trying not to let his nervousness show.

"Alright, on the horizon is a Hoshidan fort. If we can break through the fort, we'll be victorious and we'll be able to continue onto Cyrkensia," Laslow spoke, hoping the soldiers would react positively to this. None reacted, and Laslow's nerves grew. "Anyone with armour, protect those less armoured, remember to work together. Fliers; be wary of Hoshidan arrows and spirits, good job repelling the pega- I mean, sky knights last time. Mages, keep the frontlines covered with magic." Laslow finished, hoping this worked. He really wished he hadn't skipped so many strategy meetings in favour of visiting the town to pick up some girls. Especially since he'd somehow been less successful there.

"March!" Laslow commanded and the Nohrian army began its tread toward the fort, Laslow marching near the front. Beside him, Peri was smiling ear to ear in anticipation, and he almost felt sorry for the Hoshidans. The sound of marching feet in the soft snow filled the air, the occasional metallic clank of a weapon ringing out from somewhere. Other than that, it was silent.

Laslow kept his eyes sharp, on the lookout for the Hoshidan fort, or rustling up in the trees. He knew Hoshidan ninja liked to hide up there now. Snow flew gently along the cold breeze, and the trees surrounding the army remained stark and still. The eerie silence was beginning to get to Laslow, and he could tell the soldiers (and Peri) were getting restless from the constant anticipation. Laslow's eyes darted about paranoidly, looking for any trace of an enemy. The wind whistled.

Laslow wheeled around and barely dodged a shuriken aimed at his head. It whistled right over his head, and Laslow's senses went on high-alert. He looked around desperately for the source of the attack, only to be attracted by a scream behind him. He wheeled around to see an armoured knight collapsing, the light leaving his eyes as he slumped over dead. As he fell over, Laslow noticed, embedded in his chest, a small yet extremely sharp, pointed needle-like knife. His eyes widened as he realised what it was, a Hoshidan weapon he'd been debriefed on, known as the sting shuriken. It was specially designed to penetrate heavy armour, and, also commonly featured a fast-acting poison. That was the first bad thing about the current situation. The second was that it meant that the Hoshidans had surrounded them again, and worse, their forces would be made up of ninjas equipped with those lethal knives.

Laslow growled, before remembering he was the commander, barking, "Take cover!" to the Nohrians and diving out of the way as the whistling filled his ears once again. He plunged into the snow face first, before rolling over to see a falling ninja above him. Laslow rolled out of the way and pushed himself to his feet, having no time to draw his weapon before the ninja began slicing away at him with his shuriken. Laslow ducked and dodged before catching the ninja with a well-placed kick, sending him tumbling backward. He drew his steel sword and ran toward the collapsed ninja with it, bringing it down upon him. The ninja responded with a roll to avoid the would-be lethal blow and gave Laslow a shuriken to his ribs for his troubles on his way out. Laslow gritted his teeth through the brief pain and stayed on the offensive, attacking the ninja quickly, before landing a glancing blow upon the ninja. He quickly used this to slash open the ninja's stomach with a ruthless slash. The ninja gave a scream of horror as he collapsed over, continuing to scream as blood rushed out of the wound.

Seeing the ninja suffer like that made Laslow feel sick to his stomach, and he raised his sword to mercifully finish off the ninja. He plunged the blade into the ninja's chest and the ninja stopped moving a few moments later, Laslow withdrawing his sword, looking at the ninja's corpse with pity.

Laslow looked around, realising the bulk of the Hoshidan army had attacked once again, not just the ninjas. Samurais, spear fighters and oni savages had taken to the battlefield and were now making war with the Nohrian lancers, fighters, cavaliers. Above, sky knights clashed with wyvern riders, Laslow catching eye of a scarred Hoshidan woman not riding a pegasus but instead a large golden bird, armed with a yumi, a Hoshidan bow. He briefly recalled the name of the woman's mount, a kinshi, a great mystical bird native to Hoshido. They were apparently extremely difficult to tame and train. The woman's yumi, however, would be the real problem, as wyvern riders were dropping like flies before her.

Laslow ran after the kinshi knight, cautiously avoiding the falling wyverns and their riders as they collapsed and crushed any inattentive soldier, Nohrian or Hoshidan. He watched as a lancer and samurai, locked in combat, were both taken out by a fallen wyvern, the dragon landing with a large splat upon the two men. Laslow sidestepped an incoming spirit in the form of a tiger, roaring at him as he dodged its path. He halted as the kinshi knight turned and swooped low, a naginata poised. His eyes widened as he assumed himself her intended target, though he didn't feel any better when he watched a nearby lancer be skewered by her, blood spraying. Laslow caught a glimpse of her face as she flew by and his stomach dropped when he saw she was clearly enjoying it. He should introduce her to Peri. They'd have a lot to talk about.

Speaking of Peri, Laslow heard her sociopathic laugh in his ears over the sounds of the battle nearby, and turned to see the purple-haired cavalier impaling an unlucky oni savage in the chest with her lance. She withdrew her lance, and beckoned a bloodstained grin at Laslow. He forced a reluctant smile back at her, leaping between her and spear fighter ready to slay her horse, blocking his scooping attack. Laslow traded weapon blows with the spear fighter, the naginata-wielder's superior range giving him an advantage. Hearing galloping behind him, Laslow sidestepped quickly and revealed Peri behind him who gleefully punctured him in the chest with her lance. Laslow turned away from the execution scene and blocked the running spirit of a rat with his shoulder guard. Now he looked up, remembering the kinshi knight.

The arrows came flying in, Laslow racing behind a nearby tree and hearing the dangerous thud of an arrow hitting the tree. He peeked out from behind the tree and raised his sword to deflect an incoming arrow. He hoped a wyvern rider would be able to slay the kinshi knight, yet his hopes for that were dashed as one tried only to miss with a swing of the axe and promptly fall to an arrow to the wing. Laslow cringed as wyvern and rider fell like stones to the snow-covered floor. He turned and blocked a slash from an opportunistic samurai, briefly dueling him, sword and katana clashing and scraping against each other. Laslow surprised the samurai by spinning away from his thrust and cutting through a large portion of his neck with his sword. The nearly-headless samurai was dead regardless and fell into the snow, Laslow cringing as blood spilled out of the large gap in his neck.

He barely had any time to celebrate as he barely avoided another arrow poised for his neck. He shot a look up to see the same kinshi knight, yumi in hand, presumably had her heart set on him. This would normally make Laslow delighted, though it was unfortunate that it wasn't the kind of attention he was after from women. Another arrow scraping against his shoulder guard was what snapped him out of his daydreams.

Laslow whirled around and ducked as a blade flew toward him. The shocked-looking samurai nearby was quickly skewered through the chest by Laslow's sword. Laslow looked at him, wondering why on earth he'd ever throw his sword when he noticed the samurai's katana, poking out of the snow. He picked it, surprised at how light it was, feeling almost weightless in comparison to his heavier steel sword. The katana was much shorter than regular swords, which would make it next to useless in proper melee combat, and the blade didn't look very strong. Laslow thought back to the samurai who'd thrown the sword at him who now lay dead in the snow and realised the sword's true purpose. He glanced up at the kinshi knight above, still raining down arrows upon unlucky Nohrian soldiers and let a smile come upon his lips. He had a plan.

Eying up the kinshi knight carefully, Laslow gave a nervous breath. He hadn't seen how the samurai had properly thrown it, so he was rather in the dark on the sword's proper use. Even so, it couldn't be that hard, could it? Laslow gripped the katana loosely and, keeping his eye on the kinshi knight, he let the katana loose.

He missed. The sword didn't quite fly as Laslow had envisioned it would, flying off at an odd angle and falling woefully short of its target. Laslow stopped a moment to feel rather demoralised, before catching view of Peri. The purple-haired cavalier was in the middle of lobbing a javelin at the kinshi knight which frustratingly missed. Laslow stepped in to block an incoming attack from an oni savage, taking the brunt of the club's blow with his shoulder guard before delivering two hard slashes to his frame. The oni savage fell to his knees and moments later had a hole in his neck from Laslow's sword. Laslow removed his sword from the oni savage before catching a glimpse of another airborne javelin gracefully missing the kinshi knight. Beside him, he heard Peri curse loudly.

Laslow wished he had another of the throwing katanas. Fortunately, it seemed that fate had decided to give him some form of pity today as an eager-looking samurai came at him wielding a regular katana, yet at his side was a second throwing katana. The samurai came at him quickly, Laslow doing his best to parry the fast-paced slashes and slices that came from his katana. The samurai left himself open after a large slash which gave Laslow an opportunity to thrust through his chest, the formerly-confident samurai's mouth opened in shock as he fell facedown into the snow. Taking petty care not touch the blood that was seeping out from underneath the samurai's corpse, Laslow stole the throwing katana, looking around and sidestepping quickly as an arrow came down. Mentally, he tried to better think about how the sword would fly. He nervously held the katana, before shaking away his doubts. He wasn't certain the katana itself would be enough to take down the kinshi knight, so he turned to Peri who was halfway through a spear fighter with her lance.

"Peri, get your javelin ready," Laslow told her, adding urgency to his voice in the hope she'd listen. Surprisingly, this worked and Peri withdrew her steel lance and plucked a javelin from her supply. Laslow nodded to her and focused on the kinshi knight, praying that the katana would fly how he wanted it to. He took a breath and threw.

The good news was that the katana managed to hit the kinshi knight. The bad news was that it barely seemed to do anything. In fact, the kinshi knight looked downright insulted. Laslow was suddenly aware she was staring at him and it was the kind of piercing gaze that made stared through a man's soul. He took a step back, before the kinshi knight hoisted a naginata and flew toward him. Arrows were obviously too good for him. Laslow tore his steel sword from his belt and quickly braced himself for the impact, praying the block wouldn't leave him too damaged.

A cry sounded out and Laslow looked up as the kinshi knight flew over his head, her naginata not taking off his head. Laslow whirled around as the kinshi itself flapped one of its wings uselessly and crashed into the snow, skidding and knocking out several warring soldiers battling. He turned and saw Peri, javelin missing from her hand, and came to the rather surreal revelation that Peri had saved his life. Peri had saved someone's life. Laslow turned to Peri, his best forced grin on his face and gave her thanks. Peri beamed at him brightly and turned to the crashed kinshi knight. Laslow turned around as well and, sword still in hand, approached the downed kinshi. The poor animal was in bad shape, its wing crooked and bent at a horribly awkward angle and its cawed softly, wracked with pain. Laslow honestly felt sorry for the poor thing.

He felt less sorry once it reared up on its hind legs, using its wings for support and screeched at him before trying to bite off his head. Laslow stumbled back to dodge its deadly beak before slashing at its beak with his sword. He gave a second slash and savagely slashed its throat, almost beheading it. The kinshi gave a last screech before falling to the ground, dead, and Laslow looked at its corpse grimly before turning to its injured-looking rider. Her ankle was twisted unnaturally, probably as a result of the crash, and she looked at him fiercely, daring him to do it. Laslow was about to make good on it when a familiar impact struck him in the back, forcing him onto his knees. As he watched on while his body told him exactly how much the shuriken lodged in his back hurt, sigils appeared on the ground beneath the kinshi knight and she disappeared in a flash of light. Laslow cursed under his breath before something grabbed the back of his neck and turned him around, clutching him by the throat. And he looked into the eyes of the perhaps the last individual he wanted to see.

Eying Laslow fiercely, Saizo gave the mocking line, "Miss me?". Laslow did not appreciate the irony.

 _ **Peri**_

The annoying yellow-clad female ninja had returned for a second round against Peri. Good. Peri was quite determined to murder this ninja. Especially by stabbing. There would be blood. Oh, there would be blood.

Peri raised her lance and directed her new horse around to face the ninja before charging at her, lance extended. The ninja dodged adeptly, rolling to the side, Peri bringing her lance across to to pursue the agile ninja, the tip of the lance flashing dangerously near the ninja's face. The ninja avoided this with a series of acrobatics, hand springing backward out of Peri's range. Peri's horse had to recover for a second, and gave a loud, frustrated neigh. The ninja took this moment to toss another shuriken Peri's way. Peri brought the reins across and her horse spun to dodge the incoming shuriken, though this seemed to do little to dissuade the ninja, as she launched a second shuriken at Peri that hit its target. The shuriken slammed flat end first into Peri's armoured chest, almost winding her from the impact. Peri couldn't help but wonder how the ninja got that strong.

Peri drew her sword and galloped with her horse toward the ninja at great speed. The ninja seemed surprised by this, only barely sidestepping Peri's downward slash. Peri continued to attack, the ninja frustratingly dodging at every turn, somehow seeming even faster than when they'd fought last. Her frustration was starting to build at the fact that she just couldn't seem to hit the speedy ninja. The ninja now attacked back, employing a twisting flip maneuver when Peri's sword met her shuriken to flip the sword out of Peri's grip. Peri gave a squeal as she brought the reins across to dodge the ninja's leaping pounce, before taking out her steel lance again and charging at the ninja. The ninja barely recovered from her miss in time to dodge, the lance's tip scraping against her shoulder, drawing a gasp of pain from the ninja. This made Peri happy, though the lack of blood was a real downer. More work then.

Peri brought her lance's blade across, almost beheading the ninja who ducked the swing. The ninja rushed forward, evading a second swing from Peri's lance, and disappeared from Peri's peripheral vision. Peri looked around, trying to find the ninja, who'd seemingly vanished into the thick of the battle that raged around her. She pouted when her searches revealed nothing. She could just scream right now. The ninja had consistently eluded her and Peri was downright furious at this. It was like trying to fight a ghost or something.

Something came into Peri's vision. Though it more resembled a ghostly figure than an actual human. It was a freakishly huge purple head... thing that was coated in magic's ethereal aura. Peri's eyes widened as it came toward her and she braced herself for the impact, raising an armoured gauntlet to block it.

It collided with Peri, giving off an explosion of magical energy and rattling Peri's armour. However, it actually wasn't that bad overall. Her horse seemingly hadn't been harmed either. Peri raised her sword, feeling slightly shaken, yet not that bad. Peri caught a despondent-looking mage in the distance, garbed in light spiritualist clothing, various beads and trinkets covering her body with a white singlet and blue pants. Her long hair was done up in a strange fashion, in a bun of sorts that confused Peri to no end. Mage and Hoshidan fashion sense was weird. The mage held the cards of a scroll that had probably summoned the giant purple head that had attacked Peri. Giving the mage a slasher smile, Peri decided that this mage would do as far as murder went.

Peri charged toward the mage, sword pointed. The mage seemingly attempted to get out of Peri's path, but Peri was faster. She came right over the mage, grinning all the way. She brought the sword down on the mage, only to clang against metal instead of human flesh. Peri looked down, confused, only to see the absurdly frustrating female ninja had saved the mage from her grisly fate. This annoyed Peri, though on the other hand, the female ninja had revealed herself again. Now was the perfect time to kill her. Peri swung with her sword again, colliding with the ninja's shuriken which scraped against the blow to redirect it. Peri reared up on her horse and stabbed her sword downward toward the ninja, who deflected it with another clash of steel. She continued her assault, driving down the lance fiercely on her enemy, centimetres away from contact. The mage spoke something before her cards levitated and spun in the air in front of Peri. From the circle the cards made emerged a brightly burning orange shape that collided with Peri almost point blank. It stunned Peri, almost causing her to topple off her horse before the ninja, taking advantage of Peri's stunned state, attacked with a forceful leaping pounce. The ninja slashed across at Peri, the shuriken leaving a slash across Peri's armour. Peri's horse stumbled back, Peri herself nearly falling off from the impact of the blow. The ninja struck again, leaving a savage cut in the side of Peri's armour. Peri could feel herself weakening from the repeated shuriken blows, swinging wildly with her sword, getting nothing but air. The ninja leapt into the air, before the sound of a weapon clash sounded out. At first, Peri thought instinct had somehow kicked in, though then saw that it was Laslow who had intervened.

Laslow's sword and the ninja's shuriken wrestled against each other in a blade lock, before the ninja broke it with an attempted kick to Laslow's head. He saw it coming and ducked it before sweeping the ninja, causing her to fall back into the snow. The mage summoned the orange spirit that Peri now saw resembled a horse and the spirit made it's way for Laslow. Peri stepped in, slashing the spirit in half with a swing of her lance, before turning back to see Laslow battling the female ninja again. Peri reached for a javelin that was attached to her saddle and brandished it, ready to strike. Waiting for the right moment, Peri threw it strongly right as the ninja dodged another of Laslow's strikes, catching her by surprise and allowing Laslow to land a blow on the ninja, catching her shoulder with a sharp thrust. A shuriken flew in that slammed against Laslow's shoulder guard, Peri noticing first that the one-eyed male ninja had returned to the battle. She dashed toward him with her horse, lance poised to thrust, barely missing him as he shifted backward to evade. Immediately afterward, Laslow came in from the air to strike the ninja with an aerial downward slash across the torso. Peri signalled with the reins and shot forward afterward with her lance extended to impale the ninja through the shoulder with her lance, erecting a deep curse of anguish from him as he was taken off his feet and landed in the snow, facedown, blood pooling from beneath him as he moved very little. Laslow came up beside Peri, running a hand through his hair and giving a sigh.

"I think that might be all of their commanders," he said, sounding relieved. He gave another sigh, before Peri heard something nearby. She turned and saw the orange magical horse on a charge toward both her and Laslow. Peri had nearly forgotten about the pesky mage who's magic hadn't affected her like the mage had hoped. She rode up in front of Laslow, who was beginning to turn around to see the magical horse charging toward him and raised his sword instinctively. Peri sliced through the spirit as it came at her with her spear, destroying it. Quickly, before the mage could recover, Peri took a javelin from the side of her saddle and threw it at the mage. It mostly found it's target, taking a bit out of the lowly-clothed mage's shoulder, causing her to collapse with a scream and for her cards to fall into the snow, her wound bleeding heavily. Peri giggled excitedly at the sight, and turned back to Laslow, a gleaming smile on her face.

"Got her!" Peri said triumphantly. Laslow stared at her awkwardly, before recovering to his usual persona.

"Yes, you 'got her'. Thanks, Peri," he said, in a half-hearted congratulatory manner. Peri beamed at him, happy he seemed to appreciate her efforts. Laslow turned around and began to walk to the barely-moving body of the male ninja, sword drawn. Peri rode up next to him, lance in hand.

"Ooh, can I do it? Can I do the stabby?" she asked eagerly. "Please?" Laslow briefly glanced over at the ninja.

"Knock yourself out," he approved after a brief sigh. It was at these moments that Peri quite liked Laslow. He always seemed more willing to let her do the murder. What a gentleman.

Peri rode up beside the ninja, lance ready to stab him. Killing time was always the best time for Peri. There was something greatly exciting about it, it never got old for her. That, she thought, was the mark of something truly great.

The explosion was so sudden, no one could've seen it coming. It felt like being electrocuted by magic, yet was different as well, like being cut by a sword a thousand times. Peri was shot off of her horse and crashed into the snow, blood in her mouth, fading in and out of consciousness as she lay on her side in the snow, barely aware of what was going on. Her vision blurred and all sound was replaced by a high screech that started to fade as mumbling filled her ears. Peri rolled over onto her back, delirious, as she started to feel more and more tired.

 _ **Laslow**_

Things had gone from relatively positive to unabashedly terrible in the blink of an eye for Laslow. The lightning-like explosion that might have just killed Peri had been so loud and stunning that a lot of the fighting around him had stopped, as both Nohrian and Hoshidan soldiers simply stopped to gape in awe as an imposing figure stepped forward.

Stepping into the light, Laslow realised who they were dealing with now. Adorned in red, white and gold and cutting a grandiose figure, the tall man had dark brown hair that was supported by a scarlet, royal crest. More of the long, wild brown hair flowed down behind him. Over red light-weighted armour that was no less expertly crafted and emblazoned with gold edges, he wore a white coat that matched the colour of the snow that continued to fall, even with his arrival. At his side, in his brown gloved hand, was a katana, though this was no ordinary weapon. Its hilt was white and gold and its blade an ivory silver that continually buzzed with yellow lightning. Laslow had heard its name whispered in hushed fearful reverence before, along with its wielder, and knew that he was currently looking at the legendary weapon Raijinto. Which meant that only one person could be standing before Laslow right now.

High Prince Ryoma of Hoshido had arrived.

Just thinking the name sent a shiver down Laslow's spine. When he'd been briefed on Hoshido, the enemy nation of Nohr, Prince Ryoma had been identified as the biggest obstacle to overcome in combat. A powerful swordmaster who was made even more powerful by his legendary blade Raijinto, he was said to have completely wiped out entire legions of soldiers before singlehandedly. Few had lived to tell the tale after being involved in a battle against him, and most of them had been shaken to the core by his strength. Most chillingly, they'd compared it to witnessing the wrath of the gods themselves.

Laslow was suddenly aware that his clutch on his blade was slipping as he stared down the High Prince of Hoshido himself. Ryoma caught his eye and Laslow blinked for a split second as his gaze pierced him. He opened his eyes and instinct told him to move, move fast. Laslow did, sidestepping quickly, witnessing a burst of lightning erupt where he'd once been standing when he turned around. Laslow looked at the spot, aware that Ryoma had thoroughly intended to electrocute him. The wounds he'd already taken during the battle, the shurikens that remained ever-present in his back and the cuts around his body, made themselves known, and Laslow was suddenly aware that he'd stand next to no chance against Ryoma sword to sword. Maybe he liked to talk, Laslow thought hopefully.

Laslow opened his mouth to begin only for Ryoma to speak first.

"Nohrians!" he boomed thunderously. "Surrender now, and you will remain unharmed. Refuse, and you will have sealed your own fate." That was all he needed to say. He didn't seem to be very open to negotiation. Laslow hoped sincerely he might be able to change his mind. Summoning all of the courage he could, Laslow stepped forward gingerly and Ryoma eyed him with a daggered, distrustful stare.

"Um, hello," Laslow began awkwardly, nervous beyond all belief. "Um, there's been a bit of a misunderstanding here." A blackhearted part of Laslow was glad Peri wasn't here to interrupt him this time in negotiations. He glanced at what might be her corpse briefly, before turning back to Ryoma, "We're just passing through the White Woods here. We meant for no conflict to occur, and this battle was the result of a brief misunderstanding between myself and your subordinates." Then, swallowing his and probably the entirety of Nohr's pride as well, "We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience." A quick glance around showed Laslow that a lot of the Hoshidan soldiers were giving him brutal glares. Looking back at Ryoma showed the same thing. The Hoshidan prince obviously didn't believe Laslow for a second.

"Who are you?" questioned Ryoma sharply.

"My name's... Laslow," Laslow answered uncertainly. "But that's not important," he backpedalled. "All we want to do is pass through the White Woods."

"Tell me your destination," ordered Ryoma, still glaring through Laslow, who felt like he was going shatter at any moment under the High Prince's pressure.

"Cyrkensia, Nestra," Laslow answered. "We are attending a performance in the Opera House." Laslow prayed that Ryoma would swallow this lie without question. He didn't.

"I have heard of no performance scheduled in the Opera House for today. Or in the week, for that matter," Ryoma answered coldly. Laslow's heart dropped. It was either a bluff, or he'd actually checked the timetable. Laslow decided to bank on the former.

"Um, yes there is, in fact," he lied, trying to hide his shock from Ryoma. Laslow caught a glimpse of Ryoma's hand tightening on Raijinto and knew that the negotiation was about to go south very quickly.

"No there isn't," said Ryoma, before slashing his katana upward. Laslow used his sword to block the attack and Ryoma attacked him with lightning speed, his katana slicing and slashing in a blur. Laslow desperately deflected what blows he could and felt the ones he didn't slash against his flesh. Around him, he heard the battle reengage, as the sound of metal, magic and screams filled the air. Laslow found himself caught in a blade lock by Ryoma as Raijinto buzzed with electricity while the blades screeched against each other. Gripping his sword with both hands, Laslow wrestled against Ryoma for control, before Ryoma pushed forward with supernatural speed and strength, sending Laslow flying off his feet. Laslow landed on his back deep in the snow and instinctively rolled over as soon as he could. He pushed himself to his feet to see Ryoma withdrawing Raijinto from the snow where he'd been. Ryoma shot forward with a thrust that Laslow managed to parry, before parrying more of Ryoma's lightning-quick slashes and slices, each time a metallic clang sounding off as the two blades connected. Laslow ducked a horizontal slice before taking a kick to the face from Ryoma that sent him rolling back onto his back. Laslow rolled through and staggered onto his feet, shaking off the kick and preparing himself for another attack. It came quickly, as he stepped back while parrying Ryoma's quick strikes, blocking any he could with his shoulder guard. One precise downward slice from Raijinto Laslow caught with his shoulder guard, feeling the impact and the crack against it, though he used it to try and throw Ryoma off balance. Laslow attacked Ryoma with only two strikes that Ryoma acrobatically dodged with a series of impressive flips, before Ryoma dashed forward and slashed across, forcing Laslow to defend himself again. Laslow blocked and parried more of Ryoma's strikes as they came flying at him as he tried to keep himself alive. He stumbled backward after blocking a heavy blow from Ryoma and found himself pressed against a tree. Laslow ducked as he saw Raijinto coming for him and rolled forward, brandishing his sword as he turned to see Ryoma with Raijinto embedded in the tree. Briefly, Laslow thought this was the opportunity he needed. But his hopes were dashed as he watched Ryoma tear Raijinto from the tree, slicing its trunk in half in the process. Laslow watched, unsettled, as the tree began to fall, before realising it was falling toward him.

Laslow sidestepped the tree, the fallen trunk crashing into the snow with a mighty thud, before Ryoma was on him again. He blocked more strikes with his shoulder guard and sword in tandem, before getting in a few brief strikes before Ryoma's speed forced him to go on the defensive once again. He blocked a crushing blow from Ryoma with his sword, the two blades screaming against each other in a metallic shriek. In the blade lock, Laslow pushed with all his depleted strength could muster. Yet it was clear that Ryoma was both stronger and faster. For the second time, Laslow found himself easily shoved to the ground, landing on his back. He rolled over quickly and rose to his feet, keeping his eyes on Ryoma. Ryoma flicked Raijinto and squatted briefly. The action confused Laslow, before, seconds too late, he realised what was coming.

The lightning shock was agonising. Laslow felt nothing else except the electric pain through his body for a few seconds, before somehow hazily coming to. He felt around with his hands, realising he was lying on the ground, in the snow, before remembering Ryoma.

Laslow rolled over quickly and crawled to his feet, suddenly realising his sword was no longer in his hand. His blurred vision began to form actual shapes, and the red one was now coming toward him. Laslow sidestepped Ryoma's lunge instinctively, before his hand automatically went to one of his backup swords, the silver sword. He pulled it from its sheath and it clashed against Ryoma's incoming attack, Laslow's mind still spinning and struggling to focus on what was happening. His body moved naturally, undirected by his mind, to block Ryoma's attacks lazily, before Laslow snapped back into reality.

Laslow parried Ryoma's strikes desperately, his brain overflowing with newly found information that threatened to make his head simply pop. He was still shaking off the haze from the burst of lightning Raijinto had unleashed on him, though he was clearer than he had been moments ago. Laslow used all of his strength to bash away Ryoma's strikes, and, after deflecting a hard strike from the High Prince, Ryoma looked legitimately surprised at Laslow's second wind. Laslow didn't waste Ryoma's moment of hesitation, and attacked Ryoma ferociously, the Hoshidan prince dodging and flipping out of Laslow's sword's reach. He didn't let up his attack though, and continued swinging the silver sword at Ryoma, coming dangerously close to making contact with the Hoshidan prince at times. This started to fill Laslow's heart with hope. If he could get one touch on Ryoma, maybe he could pull off a miracle. If Ryoma was defeated, the victory would almost certainly belong to the Nohrians. Newly motivated by this prospect, Laslow ignored the tiredness that filled his muscles with the weight of the silver sword and continued his attack. He was swinging it with less and less finesse each time though, and Ryoma was dodging easier and easier.

Finally, Ryoma countered with a surprise thrust that caught Laslow near off guard. He barely dodged the stab, before Ryoma attacked him with a pair of quick slices that Laslow failed to block effectively. Ignoring the new cuts freshly made on his unguarded shoulder, Laslow attacked with slashes and thrusts again, which Ryoma once again dodged with relative ease. Laslow struck with a downward slash that Ryoma dodged with a backflip before Ryoma squatted and Laslow could see the focus in Ryoma's eyes.

Ryoma then shot forward and struck faster than Laslow could even see. Laslow didn't know how many times he was hit, only that they hurt. Ryoma slashed and sliced away at Laslow's frame, before violently kicking him in the chest that made Laslow almost fall over from the impact. The Hoshidan price wasn't done and he gave Laslow a final savage slash across his entire torso. Laslow was knocked back into the snow from this last hit that was a lot harder than the rest, and he lay in the snow, a pool of blood forming around him. He choked out breaths, trying to keep himself alive as the blood ran out of him, particularly from his torso. But he was still alive. For now. Laslow rolled over onto his stomach and struggled to get to his feet, barely aware of the fact that his sword had left his hand once again. He reached his knees, one hand trying to stop the bleeding from the intense cut on his torso while he spat out blood before looking up, trying to see where Ryoma was.

He met the point of Raijinto, its blade stained with blood - his blood, looking down the sword at its owner, who looked at him steely eyed. Laslow coughed, wondering how to accept the reality that his death was moments away. Ryoma kept the blade pointed at him, looking at him seriously.

"Good," he said in a faintly impressed voice. "But not good enough. A shame one as skilled as yourself fights for Nohr. And feels the need to lie." Ryoma didn't hide the contempt in his voice on the last word, and Laslow kissed any chance he had of surviving this encounter goodbye. Ryoma raised Raijinto, and Laslow braced for the end.


	2. The Burning Woods

_**Laslow**_

Laslow waited for the final blow. But it never came.

He looked up to see Ryoma now a few metres away from him, and for a brief second, he thought Ryoma had reconsidered and taken mercy on him. But that was rather unlikely. Laslow kept clutching the large wound across his chest that continued to bleed through his fingers, along with the multitude of other cuts and slashes across his body. He gave another cough, waiting for Ryoma to return and finish him off for good.

There was a loud crack and Laslow looked up in alarm. And above him, aimed at Ryoma ahead of him, was a large dark beam, coated with blood red lightning and energy. Laslow gasped, before tentatively turning his head to confirm his suspicions. And confirmed they were.

Atop a horse dressed for combat, tough dark grey and black armour on its head and neck present and draped down it as part of the saddle to the sides and out the back, was its rider. Its rider was a tall, imposing man with blonde hair like gold and coated in black, red and gold armour. On one of his arms was a small protective shield, in the other was a long sword that was glowing a radiant purple. Its real colour was of gold, white, black and purple, a broad and regal blade whose hilt was molded expertly, the entire weapon, like Raijinto, unscratched and untainted. The sword itself was known as Siegfried and was widely regarded as a legendary weapon on the same status as Raijinto. On the man's forehead was a thin black Nohrian crown.

Crown Prince Xander of Nohr had arrived.

Laslow wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or concerned that Xander was here. On one hand, it showed that Xander seemingly hadn't trusted Laslow's judgment that he and Peri could handle the situation without his assistance. Of course, that had turned out to be false, considering he'd been moments from losing his life to Ryoma. And if there was anyone who could possibly defeat Ryoma, it would be Xander. So in that case, it was probably good that Xander was here, even if it meant Laslow swallowing his pride.

Ryoma spoke up, "It seems the real general of Nohrian army has arrived." Laslow watched as Ryoma squatted into a samurai's fighting stance. "For the good of your troops, surrender." Xander halted his horse, brandishing Siegfried.

"It is you who should be surrendering," Xander replied, not taking his eyes off Ryoma. "I am Prince Xander of Nohr and I order you to surrender." Raijinto's blade pulsed with electricity.

"Do not test my patience, prince of Nohr" Ryoma threatened. "I am Prince Ryoma of Hoshido." Something flickered in Xander's eyes. He seemed intrigued.

"I see," Xander replied, Siegfried's blade burning a bright purple aura in his grasp. He gestured with the reins and his horse charged. Laslow himself was suddenly aware he was in the middle of what was going to be a titanic battle. He rolled over, trying to scramble out of the path of the charging horse. He rolled several times in the snow, ignoring the still-bleeding slashes around his body. He looked up to see Xander's horse leap forward, Siegfried extended. Siegfried and Raijinto met, sending an immediate wave of energy out from the impact between the two legendary weapons. Laslow felt it and was blown back, sledding back through the snow and stopping to a halt on his back, lying there in the snow, his blood beginning to pool around him again. He was growing weaker and weaker and started to think he might be dying after all. As he lay there, he looked over to his side and remembered someone who was likely in a worse way than himself.

Peri lay there nearby, still unmoving, her horse no better, slumped on its side. Laslow still didn't know whether she was dead or alive, though he had to check. He sorely wished a troubadour was present, though he'd have to signal for a physic staff or warp tome, before remembering he'd forgotten his signals. Cursing himself, he rolled over and crawled over to Peri with one arm, still trying to use the other to stop his own bleeding.

He reached her and took a look at her condition. He was no troubadour but he knew that it was pretty bad. She was unconscious and he could see almost the entire right side of her body was badly burnt from the impact of Raijinto's lightning burst. Half of her face had been burnt as well and even some of her hair, gashes covering the side of her face and also shown in some holes burnt in her pink armour. Her purple and pink hair had the headband and ties that bound her hair back in pigtails and now flowed freely. Laslow looked at her pitifully, stroking a hand through her hair and pushing it back to check a large gash on her forehead. He now reached into the back of his belt, praying he hadn't forgotten his healing potions. He found a few and withdrew them, laying them out in front of him.

So far, not good for Peri. Only vulneraries and one concoction. He wasn't sure even the concoction would be enough to save her. Laslow reached over to the other side of his belt, hoping to find an elixir potion somewhere. His fingers curled around another bottle and he took it out excitedly and his heart leapt once he saw the bottle filled with sky blue liquid. He twisted the top off and hesitated for a second, wondering how to go about this. He carefully pushed her head back to open her mouth naturally and, feeling uncomfortable, poured the liquid into Peri's mouth. He then sat her up, being careful not to touch her injuries, and hoped it would allow her to swallow the healing potion. Once he was sure it had been swallowed, he carefully laid her back down. He then grabbed a concoction for himself and downed it in a couple of gulps, feeling the cold red liquid pass down his throat. He then discarded the bottle and returned the other healing potions to his belt. Fortunately, he could feel the concoction already begin to take effect, and he felt most of the blood dripping from the cuts around his body drip their last. He ran a tentative hand down the large cut along his torso and was relieved to find it was no longer bleeding. He wiggled his fingers and also found that the wound from the shuriken through his hand now hurt less as well. Laslow breathed deeply, a relieved sigh that was ended exasperatedly as soon as he realised he was now without a weapon. Laslow looked around, now aware that the battle between the Nohrian and Hoshidan forces had recommenced. He searched the battlefield for a discarded sword and found none. Laslow cursed, before he heard Peri make a noise nearby and he turned to her, kneeling next to her. Peri's eyes opened and the elixir had done its job. The intense burning on her face and the gashes had been repaired and a lot of the blood had now dried up. Her eyes darted around before focusing on Laslow's face looking down at her.

"Ah... hi, Laslow," she said dreamily.

"Hey Peri," he greeted her warmly. Right now, he had get her back into a battle frame of mind. It was only going to be a matter of time before someone noticed the two of them amidst the battle. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah," Peri answered. "I feel a lot better," she beamed. That was good. Laslow made a mental note to never go into battle without an elixir ever again.

"That's good," he said, talking faster. "Listen, do you have a spare sword of something? Get your lance. We're still in a battle. We need to help Lord Xander." Peri's eyes widened.

"Lord Xander's here?" she asked, looking hopeful. Laslow nodded and she beamed again. Peri sat up surprisingly quickly. She looked around for a few moments before grabbing a nearby lance sticking out of the snow. Then she looked despondent.

"I don't think my horsey's good," she said, sounding deflated. In his rush to save Peri, Laslow had forgotten her horse. He plucked a few vulneraries from his belt and jogged over to the slumped over horse.

"Oh, right," he said as he knelt down and checked for a pulse. Somehow, the horse was still alive and it gave a low neigh. Laslow gave it two vulneraries and soothing stroke. The effects were quick. Laslow and Peri carried the horse to its feet, and, from the muddle of weapons attached to the side of her horse, she withdrew a sword from it. It wasn't exactly a premium blade though, not even having a proper handle.

"Sorry, iron's all I got," said Peri as she offered it to Laslow. He took it from her, trying not to look disappointed, and nodded to her, affirming, "It'll do." Peri climbed atop her horse and gave it a small stroke.

"Where's Lord Xander?"she demanded. Laslow looked around, only to see Xander and Ryoma had disappeared. It seemed their battle had taken them elsewhere. He turned back to Peri.

"We'll find him," he promised her. Peri nodded in acceptance. Then, wearing her famous slasher smile, she gleefully said to him, "Time for some killing!" Laslow did his best to smile enthusiastically back, remembering why he was wary of Peri to begin with.

 _ **Saizo**_

Saizo scanned the battlefield. He'd recovered physically from the blows Laslow had struck him, though he still felt shame the pathetic excuse for even a Nohrian had managed to best him in combat, even with the aid of the psychotic Nohrian cavalier, Peri. He'd allowed himself only a single vulnerary. It had been enough. The large slash over his chest and the gaping hole in his shoulder had both healed significantly enough, though he still felt a tingling in his injured shoulder. He ignored it, however, focusing on the battle situation.

Currently, the overall battle seemed to be even. Around Saizo, both Nohrian and Hoshidan soldiers were falling, blood and bodies piling up in the snow and dying the white a deep crimson red. Drawing a shuriken, Saizo threw a shuriken accurately between the eyes of a Nohrian fighter, a brutish and burly man with an axe and downright stupid clothing for the wintry environment. Which was to say, not much at all. Saizo watched as the stupid fighter fell to the ground with a shuriken embedded in his face.

Saizo tossed another shuriken at a Nohrian dark mage, killing him instantly with the blow before he could notice him. Saizo ignored the chilling cold and continued searching the battlefield for the Nohrian man, Laslow. Laslow had managed to obtain a rare honour from him - Saizo _wanted_ to kill him. More than that, he was determined to. In part because he was clearly the most stable of the two apparent commanders of the Nohrian army, whether Laslow had been truthful about that remained to be seen, but also because Laslow was the kind of person Saizo genuinely hated the most. He was an established liar, used shameful tactics in battle and likely didn't give a horse's arse about anyone other than himself. Saizo could also tell that he was some kind of sexual deviant, judging by the way he'd been staring at Kagero during the brief 'negotiations'. Just thinking about it made Saizo scowl.

Now, with renewed determination, he rushed through the battlefield, executing any Nohrian that caught his eye with a well-placed and decidedly brutal throw of a shuriken or two. They were dropping like flies now, and the image gave Saizo a morbid joy. He didn't enjoy killing his foes to the extent of some others such as Reina and her peculiar fascination with the screams of the dying, yet he couldn't deny he found some satisfaction from it. Especially when it was clear to him they deserved it.

Saizo's eye snapped to the man he'd been looking for. Laslow. The Nohrian man was right there, accompanied by the Nohrian madwoman, Peri. They both looked worse for the wear, currently not fighting, yet clearly suspecting an attack. Saizo decided to confirm Laslow's suspicions.

Saizo drew a shuriken and, deciding it wasn't quite enough, drew a second in his other hand and threw the two of them, one after the other. They both connected in different places in Laslow's back, drawing a cry of pain from him and causing him to fall forward over in pain. That was a shame. Saizo would've preferred one of them to hit his head. Peri turned around now and, with a angry glare at Saizo, she gestured with reins and she charged forward after Saizo, lance extended, to avenge her injured partner. Saizo rolled sideways out of the way, letting her blow past him, before throwing a shuriken at her back from behind, the star not quite piercing the metal and instead noisily clanging off her armour. Taking a second shuriken, he turned back to Laslow's direction, the swordsman still on his knees, and threw a third shuriken to his back, drawing another yelp of pain from him. Saizo turned back and flipped sideways to dodge Peri's lance charge once again. Peri wheeled her horse around with surprising agility and came back toward him at speed, bloody vengeance written in her face. Hmph. Saizo backflipped out of the range of her lance thrust, before crouching to prepare for a jump. He leapt into the air, throwing twin shuriken forward mid-air at Peri before she could recover from her attack. These two stuck with a serrating sound, lodged in through her armour on the breastplate. Peri gave a brief whine, before fighting on, taking a javelin from the supply attached to her horse and lobbing it at him. Saizo dodged this with a quick sidestep, before throwing another shuriken that clanged off her armour for good measure. Peri gave a frustrated growl as she absorbed the attack and brandished her lance again. Saizo gripped his shuriken tightly and leapt into the air, flipping right over Peri, clearing her entire horse's body, before twisting in mid air as he fell and threw a shuriken forcefully at her back. Peri gave a pained scream as Saizo saw that this shuriken had stuck itself in her back. The madwoman teetered on her horse, losing grip on her weapon. Saizo knew she wouldn't be problem for now.

He turned back, eying a still-recovering Laslow, who was still on his knees, and, shuriken in hand, moved quickly toward him. Saizo ran toward him, ready to finish him off with a final shuriken in the back. Laslow must have somehow heard him and turned around, sword in hand, quickly raised it to block Saizo's attack. Saizo didn't stop, however, and brutally pounced on Laslow, aiming his shuriken toward the Nohrian's neck. Hunched over Laslow, Saizo pressed his shuriken further and further toward Laslow's neck, Laslow desperately trying to push back with the flat edge of his sword, the two blades in a lock. Laslow's face was a mask of shock and panic, and Saizo stared a hole through him with a vengeful glare.

Seemingly out of panic and desperation, Laslow began to kick and struggle, before throwing himself backward. Saizo found himself pushed into a forward roll off of Laslow, turning around to face his adversary. Laslow had somehow gotten to his feet, staring at Saizo with the wide-eyed look of a man who'd nearly lost his life. Which was true. Saizo presented a new shuriken and attacked Laslow viciously, his melee shuriken strikes being blocked by his opponent's sword parries. He swung in a wild manner yet made each block and parry difficult for Laslow, using his speed to land a few slices at Laslow's body. Each successful chipped down Laslow, and Saizo knew it was only a matter of time.

Saizo, after a series of hard slashes, leapt into the air and struck at Laslow with a crushing downward strike. Laslow blocked it with his sword, though the impact nearly tripped him and sent him stumbling backward, leaving himself wide open. Saizo produced another shuriken and threw it forcefully at Laslow's chest. The shuriken hit him and Laslow toppled over, stumbling backward before falling over and landing hard on his back, clumsily dropping his sword.

Saizo stalked him, taking out another shuriken from his deep supply, and walked over to his bleeding adversary. Laslow noticed him and rolled away just as Saizo prepared to plunge his shuriken into the Nohrian man's heart. Saizo growled and threw his shuriken at him while he crawled on the ground. Laslow rolled over and managed to deflect the shuriken off his shoulder guard. Saizo growled again. Laslow knew he was on borrowed time now. So why wouldn't he die? Saizo walked over to Laslow as he tried to crawl away from Saizo. He leaned in before Laslow rolled over and nearly slashed him in the face like a cornered cat. Somehow, the lucky dastard had managed to find a sword to use. Saizo watched as Laslow used the planted sword to climb to his feet, again giving him the nearly-dead man's stare. Saizo replied with a cold glare.

Laslow attacked Saizo first this time, slashing away at him. Saizo blocked Laslow's series of slashes, before sidestepping a thrust and launching an attack on Laslow. He savagely slashed sliced at Laslow, though the Nohrian parried all of the attacks, before countering one of Saizo's lunging strikes with a quick dodge and slice that took off a fair lump of Saizo's side. Saizo gave a roar, Laslow reacting with a mask of panic, before Saizo attacked him viciously, getting a light slash past Laslow's defenses and using it to rip at his side. Laslow gave a cry, before Saizo kicked his feet out from under him, sending him crashing into the snow. Saizo raised his shuriken up, ready to drill a hole in Laslow's head in a berserker-like fury. Before Laslow did the most disgraceful thing he could.

All Saizo could feel was the pain in the area that Laslow had just kicked him in. He almost keeled over entirely, stepping backward. It wouldn't have hurt as much as it might've, as Saizo had been trained for this kind of tactic. But Gods did it still hurt like a mother. In plain speech, Laslow had just kicked Saizo between the legs. If Saizo had hated Laslow before, then he absolutely abhorred him now. Laslow had sat up and was clearly aware that this act had enraged Saizo. He looked at Saizo with a half-apologetic face. Saizo looked him straight in the face and snarled.

"That was a mistake." Laslow's eyes widened as he struggled to get to his feet and lift his sword up before Saizo charged at him. He ran at Laslow like a rampaging horse, snatching him by the neck before Nohrian could defend and didn't slow down. Not even for the nearby cliff.

Saizo half-tackled, half slammed Laslow off the edge of the cliff and down into the cliff face. They tumbled down, gaining speed, rolling over and over, both hitting rocks and bumps that skewed the cliff face. Finally, they both landed, Laslow first, then Saizo, both into deep snow, though Saizo still felt the ground as he plummeted into the ground. He groaned, feeling every new cut and bruise he'd obtained from rolling down the short cliff face. He snarled at his sloppiness in that regard, not for taking himself and Laslow down the cliff but for not using the Nohrian as a shield to protect himself from the impacts. That would be a better idea next time. Saizo felt his arms regain movement first and he reached out of the deep hole he'd created in the snow, trying to claw his way out of it, yet the snow he tried to grip simply collapsed in after him. Finally, with both hands, he pushed himself up,shaking his head to get rid of the damned snow and to check whether or not he'd taken any head injury during his fall. Fortunately, he seemed fine. A vulnerary wouldn't be required. His scrotum could still use one, though. Remembering that renewed his hatred of Laslow and he pushed himself to his feet to check whether the Nohrian was dead or not.

A quick glance showed that Laslow was only just recovering from the fall. He'd rolled over to try and push himself up, and Saizo made his way over to him. Laslow seemed to have lost his sword, while Saizo still had his extensive supply of shuriken at his disposal. Laslow had only just gotten to his feet before Saizo took a swing at him with his shuriken, which Laslow ducked. Saizo attacked him again, Laslow stepping back to avoid it, leaning and ducking Saizo's lethal swings. The Nohrian looked around for anything he could use. There was nothing. Most of the fighting seemingly hadn't reached this section. Good. They were alone. That suited Saizo fine. Killing was easier without distractions. Laslow bent over back again as Saizo swung wildly, looking panicked once again. Despite everything, it seemed the Nohrian man hadn't lost his silver tongue.

"Well, it can't get any worse, right?" Laslow suggested to Saizo as he ducked another swing. Saizo simply grunted and attacked Laslow again, which the Nohrian frustratingly dodged with a jump back, still looking around whenever Saizo gave him a free moment.

A nearby roar proved Laslow wrong. And both Saizo and him saw what had found their battle.

The rumours were true. The Faceless did indeed roam the White Woods.

There were at least fifty of them. Savage-looking, dull green-skinned muscular hulking beasts, each wearing a dark grey mask that wrapped around their face. Each mask had holes in it, though no face could be seen within. It made the Faceless seem expressionless, though the beastly roars that came from behind the masks showed this was far from the truth. In the distance, Saizo could now hear surprised shouts and screams from other soldiers in the area. It wouldn't be long before they swarmed the entire battlefield. After that, things could sour for both armies.

A Faceless had now noticed Saizo and Laslow, and reared up with a roar, before charging toward both of them. Laslow shot a desperate look at Saizo, though Saizo couldn't care less about the Nohrian's safety right now. Saizo leapt out of the way of the Faceless' leaping punch. He backflipped out of range of a second punch, before tossing a shuriken.

The shuriken hit a surprised Laslow hard in the shoulder, the Nohrian giving a cry as he stumbled and fell over from the impact. It seemed he'd forgotten they were enemies. It seemed he'd also forgotten that he'd kicked Saizo in the balls earlier. Saizo hadn't. Laslow gave him another desperate look while Saizo flipped out of the way of the Faceless' punch once again. Saizo responded with a scornful glare. They were not friends. He threw another shuriken which Laslow ducked. The Faceless that had been pursuing Saizo now turned around toward to target Laslow. Saizo feeling a smile creep underneath his mask. Better yet, Laslow was still unarmed. The arrogant Nohrian wouldn't survive this.

Still pinning a horrified Laslow with a threatening glare, Saizo approached the mountain the two of them had just fallen off of and started to scale it quickly. The Faceless briefly noticed, though seemingly felt it was better to go after Laslow than the almost escaped Saizo. The ice-laden cliff face made climbing slippery and more difficult than usual, though Saizo could still climb adeptly and quickly. He reached the top, suffering no fumbles in the process, and took one last look down at Laslow below. Smiling to himself at the Nohrian's sealed fate, Saizo left for the battle. He'd heard rumours of Lord Ryoma entering the battlefield, and he had to confirm those rumours. If they were true, then the Hoshidans' victory would be assured.

 _ **Laslow**_

Laslow had thought before that the worst thing to happen to him today would be dueling Prince Ryoma to the near-death. He had been wrong. Staring down a now-horde of Faceless while unarmed was worse. Much worse. Laslow pulled the shuriken embedded in his shoulder out and looked hopelessly at the approaching Faceless.

He needed his sword more than ever now. However, it seemed he'd lost it when the crazy ninja had literally tackled him off of a cliff. Gods, that had really hurt. The deep snow had done little to shave off the impact of falling about eight metres. His back still hurt after that. Though right now, he could probably ignore that in favour of the hulking monster coming towards him.

The Faceless gave a roar and punched downward, barely missing Laslow as he leapt back to dodge it. While the creature recovered, he looked around, seeing more and more Faceless becoming attracted to the fight scene. Two more were now approaching. No weapon was in sight. Laslow sidestepped another crushing blow from the Faceless, wondering how long he could keep this up. It wouldn't be long. He needed a plan before that happened.

Unfortunately, Laslow didn't have the acrobatics or climbing skill of Saizo, who'd escaped by scaling the cliff the both of them had just dropped off. Even so, Laslow wasn't about to take his chances on that thing. The frost-covered face of the cliff made it perilously slippery. Laslow wondered whether it was luck or skill that had allowed Saizo to scale it so adeptly. He backed away just out of range of another punch, wracking his brain for an idea. Finally, he decided it would be better to just run.

After ducking a swinging blow from the Faceless, Laslow sprinted. He hopped to the side to dodge a lunging blow from another roaring Faceless and fled the scene, trying to ignore the pain in his back and the growls of the Faceless now behind him. Trees were scattered around and Laslow weaved in and out between them, hoping to confuse the pursuing Faceless behind him. This plan was literally crushed when he heard the violent snap of a tree trunk behind him, shooting a glance behind him to see the Faceless had simply punched over the trees behind him. Another tree crashed to the ground, making Laslow jump as he ran. He waved away the snow that fell around him, trying to run as fast as he could without stumbling over in the deep snow. He constantly looked around for any sign of a weapon. He really hoped he'd find one before the Faceless caught up to him. A furious roar behind him served as a reminder that situation might not be far away.

The trees were gradually getting thicker and closer together. Laslow almost crashed into a particularly wide-trunked one as he sidestepped it, brushing past it with his shoulder guard. Behind the him, the roars persisted, motivating him to keep running. The roars were starting to get louder and Laslow was afraid to look over his shoulder.

Laslow suddenly felt his feet give way and he gave a cry as he stumbled and fell over. He rolled over only to see a Faceless was right on him. The Faceless grabbed his leg before he could react and pulled. Laslow found himself dragged through the snow before the Faceless powerfully threw him at a distant tree. He flew through the air at an awkward angle before colliding with the tree with his back and collapsed into the ground below, face down. Dislodged snow from above fell on him as Laslow tried to push himself up only to be confronted by the agony in his back. It was intensely painful now, probably one gigantic bruise by now. The growl of the Faceless awoke him and he reached above him, hugging the tree in an attempt to pull himself up. The growl continued and Laslow found a branch on the tree to grip, using it as a pull up with all his strength. He eyed the Faceless briefly before the branch snapped from his pressure and Laslow fell back, thankfully out of range of the Faceless' smashing fists. Laslow, still gripping the snapped branch, threw his legs backward and rolled over back, managing to stagger to his feet. As the Faceless came toward him, he looked at the sword-length branch pitifully, before deciding a joke weapon was better than no weapon.

The Faceless swung savagely with both its fists clamped together, which Laslow blocked with tree branch. Surprisingly, the tree branch didn't snap, though the force of the blow did knock Laslow back, almost sending him tumbling over. Laslow held strong though, and stepped back out the way of the Faceless' second fist slam. He deflected a brutal punch from the Faceless with the tree branch, before seeing his opening to attack. Swinging the tree branch with all of his might, he aimed for the Faceless' head.

The tree branch snapped like a twig over the Faceless' head, and it gave a furious growl. Laslow looked at the remains of the broken tree branch still in his hand and threw it away angrily, cursing. The Faceless roared and brutally punched Laslow in the stomach, sending him in the air and crashing down into the snow. Laslow landed on his back and rolled over in a vague attempt to escape the Faceless, moaning in pain. He continued to roll over, spitting blood and trying to cushion his bruised torso. The roar of the Faceless sounded in his ears once again and he reached out, trying to crawl away from the murderous beast. In the ground, he could feel the tremors of it as it came closer. He reached out with his arm, constantly rolling, praying it would find something.

There was nothing. Nothing but snow. Laslow rolled over onto his back to see the Faceless looming over him. It raised its fists and slammed down. Laslow reactively rolled over to his side and managed to shield himself from the crushing blows with his shoulder guard. He could feel the metal dent under the force of the impact. From his side lying position, he kicked the Faceless in the stomach as hard as he could muster. The Faceless gave a brief groan, and Laslow used that moment to kick off the ground to propel himself to his feet. Laslow began to run again only to sprint right into a swinging fist in his gut. He went flying once again, skidding through the snow and coming to a halt slowly. He forced himself to look up only to see a second Faceless there, and now they were both stomping toward him. Now his problems were twice as worse.

Spitting blood, Laslow couldn't find the strength to push himself to his feet and instead kicked off the ground to push himself back as quickly as he could, clutching his wounded torso. The two Faceless were still coming toward him. Their masks gave them no expression, yet Laslow was certain that the monsters behind the masks were pleased at his injured state and rearing to tear him limb from limb. The thought of that motivated Laslow to shuffle backward faster.

As he pushed himself backward, Laslow felt himself bump against a low object behind him. He instinctively turned only to see the bled-out corpse of a Nohrian swordsman, dressed in similar attire to Laslow, shoulder guard and all. At first, Laslow thought this was sign from the gods. That this would be his fate. Then he realised he was a swordsman. Laslow gave a hurried glance back at the approaching Faceless, before turning back to the corpse and rolling it over, searching for the swordsman's weapon. Some still-runny blood messed his gloved hands, though he didn't care at this moment. Underneath, he found it. The swordsman's blade. A steel sword.

Laslow grabbed the sword greedily, twisting around to see one of the Faceless right on top of him, fist poised to break his head open. Still clutching the steel sword, Laslow rolled over as the fist of the Faceless slammed into the snow where his head had been. The Faceless' head snapped to look at him and Laslow looked into the soulless, blank-faced mask of the monster, feeling his stomach lurch. He rolled over onto his back and sat up, his back complaining. The Faceless gave another roar at him, its mask visibly shaking from Laslow's view. Laslow took the sword and slashed the Faceless across the face, the creature rearing back, emitting a pained and freakish scream. Laslow then brandished the sword again, gripping the hilt with both hands, slashing the Faceless' leg. The monster gave a another scream and collapsed forward into the snow, barely missing Laslow himself. Laslow didn't hesitate, quickly planting the sword in the ground and climbing it to his feet, and then planted the sword firmly down into the collapsed Faceless' body, sinking the blade in deep. The Faceless gave a few last growling screams, before it became motionless. Laslow leaned on the sword for a few precious seconds, and then withdrew it from the Faceless' body, half the blade now coated in the Faceless' darker, unnatural blood. He looked around, before remembering there was a second Faceless. The second Faceless made its presence known by clocking Laslow with a haymaker, its shackled fisst hitting Laslow like a blunt axe, almost knocking him out. Laslow flew briefly before crashing into the snow face-first, though his sword didn't leave his grip. The roar of the Faceless alerted him, and Laslow rolled over, lightly shaking his head while his thoughts flashed and swirled in his head. Briefly, he forgot where he was. A second Faceless roar reminded him of the unfortunate truth of his situation.

Laslow weakly planted his sword once again and tried to climb it, only to get a flash of the Faceless out of the corner of his eye about to smash him with its fist. He rolled over, the Faceless barely missing him. Laslow leapt for his still-planted sword, seizing the hilt with his hand, tearing it from the ground and rolling over onto his back. The Faceless now leapt at him, ready to punch him in mid-air, its fist cocked. Laslow thrust his sword upward, the Faceless landing on the blade of the sword. The Faceless landed, just above Laslow, supported by the sword rammed through its chest, it's fist just shy of Laslow's face, before it fell away, hanging limply. The monster gave a low, guttural growl, before its face fell forward, centimetres from Laslow's own. Its face shook slightly, and a splatter of its blood shot through the holes in its mask, landing in Laslow's face. Laslow shuddered and pushed the Faceless' body away with his sword, the body slumping next to him. Laslow sat up, looking around desperately for any sign of more Faceless. There were more, though they hadn't noticed him somehow, seemingly more interested in a tree. That suited Laslow just fine.

Laslow wiped the Faceless' blood off of his face with his sleeve, slightly regretting it once he saw the stain it left on it. That wasn't going to be fun to wash out. He shook his head a bit, trying to clear his thoughts, which were still messy and blurry after the punch the second Faceless had given him. He then shot another look over to the other Faceless in the distance, still interested by the tree, before pulling his new sword from the second Faceless' body and sheathing the blade in his scabbard.

Now he needed to get out of here before the other Faceless noticed him. He wasn't about to risk going back to the cliff face that Saizo had scaled with ease. It was unlikely he'd be able to do that, even on his best day. He stood up shakily, using his sword for support, before starting to run. Laslow ran as quietly as he could, thankful for the deep snow muffling his footsteps, away from the Faceless, looking for any sign of a way out. The similarity of the trees and the snow made it nearly impossible to determine where he had and hadn't been, though his policy was generally to move away from any monstrous growls or roars. Though before long, it seemed like there was no way out. Laslow was now starting to feel the cold again. The snow was also getting thicker, pouring out of the sky and obscuring Laslow's vision in a screen of white. He tried to wave away the snow, though more was coming in. He wandered around aimlessly, unsure of where he was actually going, the intense snow even starting to muffle the growls and snarls of the Faceless.

Laslow stumbled forward, walking smack right into something. For a terrifying second, he thought he'd walked right into a Faceless, though feeling it with his hands told him it was stone. He brushed his hands over it. It was rough, jagged and misshapen, drawing in the higher it got. It went further than his hands could reach, and Laslow gazed up, trying to see the top. It didn't appear to have one, the snow blotting it out. Though if it led up to the top, hopefully back to where actual human beings were, Laslow didn't have much of a choice. It also seemed less frosty and slippery than the other cliff, as well as easier to climb.

Laslow took a frosty breath, before gripping a stand-out point of the cliff. He gripped another point and started to climb, each time brushing his hand over the cliff, trying to find another handheld while clinging for dear life into the other one. It worked for a while, even if it was strenuous. After a few minutes of this, however, it the handhelds started to lessen. And they were getting harder and harder to hold onto. One minute later and there were barely any. Laslow felt the falling snowflakes and the chilling brush against him, the temperature having also fallen. His teeth chattering, Laslow clung tightly to the handheld while reaching below with his other hand to draw his sword. Turning the blade over in his hand, he jammed it into the side of the cliff face, praying as a crack rang out. The crack stopped and Laslow used the sword as a handheld to reach the next one. He pulled the sword out, and used it as a handheld again when the next handheld also proved to be non-existent. He repeated the process of using the sword as a handheld, the cracking sound once again making him hold his breath. It stopped and he climbed up further.

Finally, after several stages of this, Laslow's hand found air and snow. His hand ran through the snow as he tried to grip it, though it eventually found ground and he gripped it tightly with his gloved hand. He held it tightly as he lifted himself up, taking his sword with him, and forced himself up over the ledge. He tumbled over the ledge, rolling over, before coming to a stop on his back, panting from the effort. He wondered how Saizo had done it with apparent ease and speed. Probably some fancy ninja trick. Laslow turned his head over to see what was in the distance.

Eyes stared back at him. Laslow nearly jumped back off the cliff, recoiling in shock and horror. The dead Hoshidan spear fighter didn't move, staring, unblinking at him. Laslow examined the body, noticing that the head was locked in the opposite direction to the way the rest of the body faced, the body's neck a twisted mess. Laslow was no stranger to horrific sights, and it reminded him of the work of the Risen Revenants. He rose to a kneeling position, still holding his sword low, as he saw the rest of the area was a similar morgue. Both Nohrian and Hoshidan soldiers lay dead, along with Faceless as well, one's body seated against a tree, a naginata jammed in its stomach. Though it was apparent to Laslow immediately that the Faceless had won this battle. For every Faceless corpse, there were about five Nohrian or Hoshidan corpses, each brutalised in death. The sight sickened Laslow, as he looked in the distance and this was all he saw, blood trails staining the snow. And from the roars he heard echoing from beyond, Laslow knew the Faceless weren't done. He needed to find Xander and Peri.

 _ **Xander**_

The lightning burst crackled as it contacted with the blade of Siegfried. Xander, with all his strength, forced it away by swinging Siegfried away, redirecting the lightning blast into the ground. With Ryoma in his sights, Xander focused, gripping Siegfried hard and calling on its power. He felt the blade respond with a sudden surge of energy and, from atop his mount, aimed the point of the legendary blade at his opponent. A beam of black and red energy exploded out of a space in front of him like a bolt. Ryoma must have seen it coming. The Hoshidan swordmaster dodged acrobatically with a graceful backflip, letting the beam shoot violently into the snow beneath him. He landed squatting, bringing his sword vertically across his body, and Xander knew what was coming, once again.

Mere centimetres away from him, another burst of golden lightning exploded into existence. Without time to raise Siegfried to deflect the burst, Xander turned his body so that the small lionhead shield on his swordless arm took the brunt of the burst. The burst wasn't enough to topple Xander or even move him yet he could still feel the contrasting heat of the lightning against his forearm within his armour. But now was no time to show weakness. If he did, he, and the Nohrian army, would be doomed.

Xander, admittedly, had not anticipated this level of resistance from the Hoshidans, and had never dreamed he'd cross blades with Hoshido's own high prince here. Yet, against this expectation, here he was. He'd been far back behind the Nohrian army, despite his requests to lead the army personally, and had instead assigned that duty to his retainers, Laslow and Peri. Laslow's letter explaining the situation had referred to it as a small skirmish, yet it seemed to have escalated to the point of a full-scale battle. Not ideal, and thoughts of what could have been had he been there had crept into Xander's head. He thought he'd doused the thoughts, yet they persisted.

And when he'd entered, he'd immediately allowed his emotions to act as his cause. It would have been far more advantageous to act subtly, to come closer to their commander, this 'Prince Ryoma', and ensured an instant execution. Instead, to save Laslow's life, he'd immediately fired Siegfried's beam at Ryoma and was now locked in battle with swordmaster fully on his guard, aware of his capabilities. He'd berate himself for this later.

Now, he had to focus on defeating Ryoma while also dealing with the recent threat of the Faceless. They'd come out of seemingly nowhere, roaring over the hill and savagely slaughtering anything in their path. Twice now, he'd had to fend off both Ryoma and the Faceless, though the same had also happened to the former. The snow wasn't helping either.

A roar came in Xander's ear and he wheeled around, taking his horse with him. An airborne Faceless, fist extended, mask shaking, hurled itself toward him. Xander forcefully brought the reins across his body, his horse responding by jumping in a circle to dodge the Faceless. Brandishing Siegfried, Xander stabbed the legendary sword forward, impaling the Faceless, withdrawing it quickly to block another strike of lightning from Ryoma's own blade. Xander heard the Faceless slump over, before signalling with the reins to charge. His horse galloped forward and Xander swung Siegfried across as he came past Ryoma, only for the swordmaster to flip right over the swing with ease. Xander halted his horse, turning it back to face Ryoma only to be surprised by Ryoma shooting forward, thrusting with his katana. Xander barely brought Siegfried down in time to parry the strike, before swinging powerfully again at Ryoma. Ryoma hopped backwards to dodge the swing, and slashed diagonally at Xander's horse with his katana. Luckily, the horse's armour protected it from too much injury, and it was relatively well-trained enough to not panic in most situations. Though it still gave a noticeable shudder, and Xander gave it a hurried stroke with his free arm in an attempt to calm it while blocking a second slash from Ryoma's katana. Xander summoned Siegfried's power once again and moments later a blast of energy came from in front of Xander, forcing Ryoma to dodge with another backflip. Xander immediately swung Siegfried at Ryoma, though the swordmaster easily parried the blow using his own blade. Xander prepared to attack Ryoma again, yet it was then that the unmistakable roar of a Faceless came in his ear.

Xander turned, quickly blocking the incoming Faceless' bone-crunching punch with the flat of Siegfried. He then bashed the briefly-stunned Faceless with the hilt of his sword, before powerfully beheading the Faceless with Siegfried. He focused back on Ryoma, only to see he'd encountered the same problem as him, his katana deeply buried in the heart of Faceless. The Hoshidan high prince withdrew the katana, sparing a glance at Xander, before hopping back to dodge a second Faceless that attempted a haymaker. Xander heard the growl of a Faceless and wheeled himself and his horse around to impale a Faceless through the chest with Siegfried. But there were more to come.

The Faceless had indefinitely swept the battlefield. It was obvious to anyone that there were more Faceless than human soldiers, Nohrian or Hoshidan. And they were ruthless. Xander watched helplessly as a Faceless tore off the head of a beaten lancer in gruesome fashion. Xander raised Siegfried, calling on its power, before a black and red streak came out before him and straight through the Faceless' chest. Xander fired off more beams from Siegfried, creating new holes in multiple Faceless, yet there were simply too many. It was likely that neither Nohr nor Hoshido would come out victorious in this battle. Instead, it would be the Faceless. And no one would live to tell the tale.

But as long as Xander lived, he would dispute that outcome. He blasted another hole in a Faceless, still very much alive, though something would be needed to make sure he stayed that way.

Then Xander felt it. It was faint beat, a soft hum beneath the earth, calling him, promising the power he sought. Mere metres away from him, deep beneath the earth and snow. A Dragon Vein.

As a member of the Nohrian royal family, Xander was blessed with the blood of dragons. The Dusk Dragon, to be specific, a dragon of ebony and shadow, dark yet not evil. Just like Nohr itself. It was this blood that allowed him to detect Dragon Veins, and, more importantly, activate them. By merely letting his blood connect with the Vein beneath, the earth could be terraformed, transformed by harnessing the power of one of the four elemental dragons; fire, earth, wind and water. The possibilities of this power were seemingly limitless. It could hurt. It could heal. And it could do things beyond Xander's imagination, even if he thought he'd seen it all. All he had to do was release the Dragon Vein, and the tide of battle could be turned.

But Xander wouldn't be the one to release the Dragon Vein. Ryoma, ahead of him, wore a look of recognition as Xander had worn when he himself had realised the Dragon Vein. Before Xander could move, Ryoma took his own blade, the katana that flashed with lightning, and struck the blade across his hand, cutting lightly yet enough. Then he thrust the katana, carrying the drops of blood upon its blade, into the ground. The earth rumbled. The wind howled. Snow turned to water. And fire came to life.

A huge ball of flame came from beneath the ground, liquefying the snow beneath it to expose blackened ground below. Momentarily, it simply levitated there, between Ryoma and Xander, before it exploded and dispersed. The fire rushed outward, immediately melting snow and setting the age-old trees aflame. Some of the Faceless near the ball of flame immediately melted like icicles, leaving only darkened, burnt skeletons. Xander braced himself, blocking the incoming torrent of heat and flame that come at him with his shield. It passed him and the brief burst of heat was nearly unbearable. Within seconds, the snow and ice that had once populated the White Woods was gone.

The White Woods had become the Burning Woods.

Xander looked around at the inferno that had formerly been the White Woods. It was like the Dragon Vein's power had completely reversed the area, ice becoming flame. It was unbelievable, yet Xander knew this was only the latest show of the dragons' power. What could happen next was unpredictable. The heat now struck Xander, the fire and flames around him threatening to melt him like the unlucky Faceless previously. Around him now, were almost only corpses; Faceless, Nohrian, Hoshidan. Ryoma and he had seemingly been the only survivors in this area. The Hoshidan high prince also seemed worse for the wear. He'd stripped off his long ivory coat, and the red crest he'd worn on his forehead had also been lost. Xander's eye caught the coat, which was busy charring in the background.

However, this did not mean Ryoma had been weakened. Xander could see in his eyes, the determination of a man who would not retreat or surrender, even in the face of this inferno that he unleashed. It was an admirable trait, yet Xander himself refused to surrender as well. And when two wills such as that collided, it would only be death that would stop one.


	3. The Bloody Woods

_**Peri**_

The change in scenery was alarming for Peri. One second it had been a winter wonderland, the next it was a burning inferno. Peri looked around, still in shock at what had transpired, the great fire having rushed in, almost burning Peri and everyone else to a crisp. Her burnt armour was proof of that.

The soldiers around her were now beginning to recover, both Nohrians and Hoshidans, though most of the light-armoured soldiers, such as the Hoshidan samurais and the annoying ninjas had taken lots of damage from the flare, while Peri's stronger armour had protected her better. The lance she'd been using having left her hand during the fire, Peri drew her sword from her hip and slashed it across in front of her, catching a still-recuperating samurai across the torso. He fell over, bleeding wonderfully. Delightful.

This act resumed the fighting around her, a Hoshidan spear fighter attempting to slash her mid-air, which Peri dodged with a thrust of the reins and a leap of her horse. He followed up, however, stabbing with his naginata, though Peri slashed the thrust away with her sword, before slashing backward with her sword, catching the spear fighter by the neck. Blood sprayed from his neck as he fell to the blackened ground holding his neck uselessly. Peri's ear-to-ear smile grew wider as she licked the blood spattered on her lips. She giggled while the spear fighter's life ebbed away and the light left his eyes. Bad guy deaths were always awesome.

Peri's victory celebration was interrupted by a hard impact to the back of her shoulder that nearly knocked her off of her horse. She turned around angrily, only to see one she really didn't want to see. The scarred, one-eyed ninja from before, who'd _exploded_ when she'd hit him, looking at her with a cutthroat glare. Peri turned her horse around, staring at the ninja in anger, the shuriken in her shoulder now starting to numb her entire arm. Shaking it off, Peri brandished her sword. Time to kill him.

Peri charged forward towards the ninja with intent, swinging her sword across as she came next to him. But he simply rolled backward to dodge her swing, standing up to throw more shurikens at her. Peri swung the reins around with one hand while deflecting two shurikens with the sword in her other hand, one of the infernal things brushing across her with a scraping sound. She signalled her horse to charge once again, the distance shorter this time, though the ninja blocked her swinging sword with his shuriken, shoving the blade away from him, and throwing Peri off-balance. Peri wobbled, turning back to find him mid-air, pouncing toward her. She reacted quickly, bringing her sword up to block him. Iron clanged against steel as the two blades connected and Peri's held firm. The ninja leapt past her, throwing the shuriken at her, which Peri dodged with a quick lean to the left. She straightened herself up, and, reaching into the weaponry shackled to the side of her horse, presented a javelin. She threw it forward, charging forward immediately afterward. The ninja dodged the javelin with ease, and Peri steered her rushing horse clear of the spinning shurikens that shot from his hands while drawing her sword. She swung low with her sword, which the ninja dove right over in a roll. Peri reached across and reclaimed her thrown javelin, bringing her horse around to face the ninja. She slashed at the ninja's thrown shuriken while riding towards him and brought her sword downward upon him. He dodged the slice with a handspring backflip and immediately rushed toward her, brandishing his shuriken. Peri brought her sword up and swatted him away with her sword, slashing him across the chest, sending him plummeting into the ground. Finally. Ninjas are annoying.

Before Peri could get to the best part, another shuriken entered her back. She turned around angrily only to see the female, dark-haired ninja, reappeared. Peri groaned. So annoying.

The ninja threw another pair of shurikens at her, which Peri deflected with swift movements from her sword. She thrusted with her sword as she charged with her sword, though the ninja acrobatically dodged with a flip right over Peri, kicking off Peri's shoulder in the process. Peri almost fell off, and slashed vengefully with her sword, though hit only air. For her troubles, the ninja threw a shuriken into Peri's chest, cracking and piercing her armour from the force. Peri swayed, almost tumbling off of her horse once again, though regained her balance in time to direct the horse away from the ninja's next shot. She quickly picked the shuriken from the new hole in her armour and discarded it, before signalling another charge for her mount and swinging across with her sword to behead the female ninja. Yet the female ninja dodged the blow with a quick sidestep. Peri brought her horse around in time to slash away at the inevitable shuriken that came spinning toward her.

Peri didn't see the second shuriken, however, and it struck her in her sword arm, slicing her flesh. She winced, though managed to dodge another from the female ninja with a quick lean. She turned around to see the insulting male ninja, recovered. So there were two of them now. That was doubly annoying.

Just as she was looking at the male ninja, he vanished. Peri blinked, briefly wondering if it was her imagination, though he still wasn't there. Then came another shuriken to Peri's side. Peri turned to see the female ninja, who promptly disappeared with the wind as soon as Peri laid eyes on her. She plucked the shuriken from her armour, and looked around, trying to determine where the two ninjas might magically appear next. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the male ninja, shuriken in hand. She spun around quickly, ready to deflect the shuriken, yet it never came. Instead, another shuriken hit her hard in the back. Peri let loose a gasp of pain, turning around to see the female ninja behind her. This was no fair. There were two of the stupid ninjas and only one of her.

"No fair!" she whined at the female ninja. She turned around only to receive a shuriken slice on her cheek from the male ninja. She made a face at him, screeching, "Stop it! That's not fair!" The male ninja threw another shuriken at her, with the cold retort, "Good." Peri barely deflected the male ninja's shuriken, which clashed against her iron sword. Instinctively, she ducked, and a shuriken from the female ninja whistled over her head. She turned around, and, plucking a javelin from her supply, she aimed and threw it at the female ninja, trying to skewer. Once again, disappointingly, the female ninja dodged the flying javelin with a swift handspring backflip. She threw another shuriken at Peri, which Peri blocked with her sword. Shortly after, the male ninja behind her shot another shuriken into her back. Peri felt her back almost split from the blow. She gave another brief gasp of pain, before turning around to face the male ninja. He leapt high into the air above her, a sharp-bladed, lethal knife in hand, and looked fiercely into her eyes. Peri heard a faint word come from him before he struck.

"Die."

The male ninja threw the knife downward upon Peri with frightening speed and strength that she barely saw the shuriken. Steel screeched against steel as Peri wondered if she'd been killed instantly. Opening her eyes revealed she hadn't. Instead, Laslow was now in front of her, steel sword in hand. He snuck her a grin and looked ready to bust out a one-liner. Peri didn't give him the opportunity.

"Laslow! Where were you?!" she demanded angrily. He looked somewhat offended, before turning around to block the male ninja's savage lunging strike with his sword.

"Busy..." he got out while fighting the male ninja. Then, as ducked one of the male ninja's swings, he added simply, "Skydiving." Peri gave him a confused look. That didn't make much sense. How did Laslow go skydiving here?

Before Peri could question Laslow, she spotted the female ninja out of the corner of her eye and used her sword to deflect a pair of incoming shurikens. Behind, she heard the male ninja roaring at Laslow while they fought.

"How are you still alive?!" he demanded.

"Because I'm amazing," Laslow retorted cockily at the ninja, and a hard clash of steel came at once. While Laslow fought the male ninja, Peri turned her attentions to the female, who reappeared to fire off more shurikens at her. Peri ducked the torrent, before sheathing her sword and plucking a steel lance from her supply strapped to the sides of her horse. She charged while pointing it forward for maximum stabbing range. The female ninja dove out of the way, and Peri followed up by swinging the lance back across, nearly catching the ninja with the blade, though she ducked the swing. Peri stabbed with her lance, though the ninja was already out of range and tossed out a shuriken, which slammed into Peri's chest hard. This stunned Peri briefly, and she shook her head out of the haze. The ninja had disappeared, of course, and Peri shot a look behind her to check for any incoming shurikens. It was a wise decision, and Peri quickly threw herself down to duck the pair of shurikens. She sat back up, turning around to see the ninja vanished again. Peri cursed, before looking ahead of her and throwing herself backward to dodge another pair of airborne shurikens headed for her. She sat up again, quickly, catching a glimpse of the female ninja before she disappeared. Peri watched around carefully, looking for any sign of her. She unhooked another javelin from her supply and gripped it tightly. She heard a noise to her left, a slight sound of feet between the rages of battle around her, turned around and hurled her javelin in the direction. To her delight, she struck airborne the female ninja on the shoulder, causing her to fall from the air like a stone and land hard on the now-forest ground. She lay there, struggling to stand from her wound. Peri knew the moment had come, and signalled her horse with the reins to move in for the best part - the kill.

To Peri's right, an explosion came. At first, she thought one of the burning trees had exploded randomly. Nope. Not that. Instead, a red and white-clad Hoshidan with wild brown hair had emerged, backflipping out of the way of a beam of dark energy, wielding a fancy Hoshidan sword that seemed to be wrapped in lightning. And, after him, stepping out of the shadows, atop his mount, was Lord Xander.

Peri's eyes widened and she squealed with delight. Finally, Lord Xander was here to make everything fun again. And he'd even brought someone else. Peri recognised the Hoshidan samurai from somewhere and he sure was dressed pretty fancily, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Oh well.

A cry came from behind her. Peri turned her head and saw Laslow struggling against the male ninja, their blades locked against each other. With a gesture of the reins, Peri turned her horse around, and with a quick charge, she skewered him from behind with her lance, impaling him through his hip. He gave a roar of pain, before falling forward to the ground, Laslow awkwardly moving out of the way as he fell forward. He gave a brief glance at the writhing ninja, before giving a Peri a thankful grin. She beamed back at him, though he suddenly charged forward past her. She turned her head, only to see him slicing the magical spirit of a rat in half with his sword. He glanced back at her, his signature charming smile on his face, yet it was soon interrupted by a large explosion from the both of their sides. They both turned to see another clash of Lord Xander and the samurai's divine weaponry had caused the explosion. Peri suddenly realised they had to help Lord Xander with this foe. Then he'd reward Peri for sure!

Peri brandished her lance, and charged toward the samurai after he dodged a swing from Xander, holding her lance out to stab him with it. Vaguely, she heard the voices of Laslow and Xander yell out in surprise, though Peri didn't stop. She could get him, she knew it. She stabbed forward, though, seemingly at the last second, the samurai saw her and immediately backflipped out of the way of her attack. Peri growled, trying to swing her lance back around to strike him, though he was too quick for her, dodging and slashing her mount's light armour with his katana. Before Peri could react, he slashed with his katana once again, leaving a large cleave in her armour and a cut across her torso. She gave a yelp of pain, almost falling off her horse, seeing out of the corner of her eye, Laslow rush to her aid, brandishing his sword. Blades clashed in succession loudly in her ears, as Peri attempted to shake off the haze. A cry followed them and the sound of a heavy thud into the ground. A loud crack sounded as, in her blurry vision, Peri saw a beam of energy explode from Xander, channeling the power of his sword. Peri gripped the reins of her horse and prepared to help Xander with the samurai, better this time. As the samurai dodged the beam, Peri charged forward, lance drawn, barely missing him as he sidestepped her charging blow. She turned her head behind her to see the samurai squatting, holding his sword out in front of him, muttering something fiercely. That was weird. What was it going to do-

The energy burst came from behind her, electrocuting Peri for several agonising seconds before momentum kicked in and sent her flying forward off her horse. She landed with a brief skid, head-first into the ground, the snow no longer there to cushion the blow somewhat. She rolled over and over from momentum, and finally came to stop with a crash into a blazing tree. She hit her side, and rolled back over, trying to desperately to breathe as she was winded. It was like the other time it had happened, the burst of energy that was like magic, yet not, but bigger and more intense this time. Peri tried in vain to control her shaky breaths as she choked on blood, spitting it out hurriedly in large splotches on the ground. She couldn't see or hear anything, only fuzzy caricatures of her surroundings and blurry echoes of voices and noises. She could vaguely feel blood run from her mouth and down her back, and everything hurt. Searing pain everywhere, and now Peri could slowly feel herself start to fade...

"Peri!"

Peri rolled over weakly to see the blurry image of Laslow, himself bloodied, looking down at her, concern written all over on his face, his eyes wide. Peri weakly tried to speak, managing only a small, ailing sound. Laslow suddenly turned away from her, a clash of two opposing steels sounding out. Laslow turned back to Peri.

"Peri, you need to get out of here, now," Laslow said, the words falling on Peri as she lay bleeding. "Lord Xander and I can take care of everything." Peri moaned, trying to speak. She took a breath, still trying to work through the pain in her body.

"But..." she began, trailing off as her more pain struck her body. Then Peri heard another voice, still blurry, yet unmistakable to who it was to her.

"Peri, retreat. That's an order," Xander commanded her. Peri rolled over painfully, trying to see Lord Xander, where he was, how he could do this to her...

"Lord Xander..." she managed, though he wouldn't have heard it as it came out as a choked whisper. Laslow seemed to have heard it, however, and out of the corner of her eye, Peri saw him catch something, before throwing it up into the air. A warp tome signal. But she could still kill, didn't need to retreat, could still fight...

Laslow gave her a sympathetic smile, trying to make her feel better. But Peri didn't feel better. She tried to mouth to him, to tell him she didn't need warping, please don't do this to her...

A flash of light later and Peri's last sensation was of being lifted up.

 _ **Laslow**_

Laslow watched as Peri disappeared to safety, briefly fighting off the temptation to join her and not fight an angry Hoshidan swordmaster or ninja. But it wouldn't be. Lord Xander certainly wouldn't appreciate it, though Laslow had no desire to exit the way Peri had, bleeding and broken. Despite her habits, he wished her luck. No one deserved to die like that, and certainly not Peri.

A shuriken in Laslow's back cut off his mental eulogy for Peri and reminded him that he was on a battlefield and that there was an angry ninja after him, two actually. Moving through the shuriken's sharp pain, he turned around and immediately threw himself to the ground as the glowing spirit of an ox flew over his head. He shot his head up, and rolled over quickly as soon as he caught sight of Saizo above him in mid-air. As he stopped rolling, he pushed himself to his feet, drawing his sword, being reminded of the shurikens embedded everywhere as he did so. He deflected a shuriken thrown at him by Saizo with a swipe of his sword, before running forward and swinging his sword skilfully at Saizo. Saizo performed his now-predictable backflips to dodge Laslow's swings and Laslow saw them coming. As Saizo touched the ground, Laslow performed a small sweep that sent the ninja tumbling to the ground. Laslow reared over his opponent, wasting no time in trying to kill him this time. He raised his sword to thrust it through Saizo's chest though a shuriken was shot in his chest from the ninja as he loomed over him. Laslow staggered back, momentarily hearing a noise behind him, and turning his head only to see the glowing golden spirit of a horse right up behind him. It hit him in the back hard, burning his back with a magical explosion like a firework. Laslow could literally feel his back smoking and pain shot through it as he bent it to try and get up. He managed to roll over and hold out his sword to defend himself from Saizo's relentless slashes as he pounced on him. Past Saizo, Laslow spied the Hoshidan diviner responsible, the sly-smiled woman from before. She didn't look like someone Laslow could win over with a few pretty words.

Fortunately, Xander had apparently gotten a moment to breathe and aided Laslow with a beam of energy from his sacred sword, forcing Saizo to retreat from his assault of Laslow, while Laslow rolled over, the beam barely missing him. With a quick glimpse forward, he could see Xander was fighting a two-on-one battle as well.

The Nohrian Crown Prince was still locked in combat with Ryoma, the two princes and commanders of their respective armies dueling with their sacred swords. However, Ryoma also had the aid of the female ninja, Kagero, who was peppering Xander with shurikens, which looked as though they were taking their toll on Xander. Despite his legendary invulnerability within Nohr, a strength said to be enhanced by his sacred sword, Ryoma's attacks were clearly hurting more than they did at the start of the battle. It might only be a matter of time. If Xander fell, so would the entire Nohrian Army. They might be fighting a losing battle here.

Laslow grinned a smile, the way he usually confronted any doubts. He could still taste blood in his mouth, and he gave a spit of it out. Laslow turned around, sensing Saizo behind him and swung his sword back around as hard as he could, relief flooding over him as he felt the blade make swift contact with flesh and the corner of his eye showed him Saizo was indeed the victim. That would hopefully put him out for a few minutes before he remembered what a vulnerary was.

Laslow then turned his attention to the diviner, who was still wearing her sly grin. She gave a cackle at him before presenting a scroll from her sleeve and waving the wooden cards about in an erratic manner. Her face then changed to a viper's grin, and Laslow suspected he wasn't going to enjoy this. When the cards levitated and spun in the air, creating a gateway for a pair of glowing white spiritual snakes to emerge and start rushing towards him, he decided he was correct. The snakes hissed and snapped at him and their mistress gave another cackling laugh. Laslow took a few steps back, before deciding to stand his ground, taking his chances with fending them off with his sword. Clutching the hilt with both hands, the first snake rushed at him, fangs gleaming, which swatted away with his sword, slicing clean through the spirit. He spun around right as the second lunged in, a fraction too late as the snake loomed over him and struck with its fangs that would've closed in around his neck if he hadn't brought his sword to block. The snake's momentum toppled Laslow though and he fell over as the snake violently snapped and hissed at him while he desperately slashed wildly at it with his sword. Eventually, on of his lucky sword swings caught the snake in the head and he swung right through it, dispelling the spirit. He took a short moment to recover, before lifting his head up. Headed right for him was the spirit of an ox again, charging angrily. Laslow rolled over to dodge the it, rising to his feet as the spirit faded from view. Tightening his grip on his steel sword, Laslow took a running start and leapt into the air, flipping over the surging pair of glowing white snake spirits beneath him, landing and plunging his sword into the female diviner's stomach as she fell over. Behind him, the snake spirits fizzled out and vanished as the diviner beneath him gave a choked gasp with a wide-eyed look of shock upon her face. He withdrew his sword from her stomach, painted with a blood, and gave a her a slight merciful look, before preparing to finish the job. It would be quick, through the heart, and immediate.

"Orochi!"

The cry came from behind Laslow and, for a fleeting moment, he turned around and saw Kagero for a second before he was skidding against the ground on his back, a shuriken painfully lodged in his stomach. Sucking in air as he tried to recover from being winded, he pulled out the shuriken from his stomach and patted the wound as he tried to stop the spout of blood that was fountaining out. The bleeding began to still and Laslow wiped his bloodstained hand on the ground. He sat up, only to see Kagero staring daggers at him. Kagero, anger still burning in her eyes, lunged at him, shuriken in hand as Laslow rolled over and the blade met only ground. As he sat up, he noticed the diviner, who he presumed was called Orochi, judging by Kagero's desperate cry, disappear in a flash of light, sigils on the ground beneath her. On the bright side, that meant she wouldn't be a problem anymore. On the other hand, Laslow's near-killing of her seemed to have enraged Kagero.

Fatigue well and truly settling in, Laslow heaved himself to his feet, barely having time to block a thrown shuriken at him. Laslow deflected the mad volley of shurikens to the best of his ability, though at least five pierced past his defense, scraping past his skin. When the shuriken onslaught finished, Laslow could feel the energy draining from his muscles as all those small cuts set in with a dull sting. It was then that Kagero attacked at melee, dashing forward and punching forward with her shuriken, a blow that Laslow barely dodged as Kagero went flying past, inches away. She took barely any time to recover before pouncing on him with ferocity. Laslow countered by slashing with his sword, almost catching her across the ribs, forcing her to dodge and briefly retreat. Thankful for some breathing room, he wondered if talking was still an option. One look at Kagero's mask of rage convinced him otherwise, however.

Readjusting his grip on his sword, deeply regretting the loss of his silver and killing edge swords, Kagero lunged forward violently, which Laslow skilfully parried, causing her to overbalance, and kicked the back of her leg, likely almost breaking it. Kagero fell to the floor with a scream of pain, and Laslow wasted no time in bringing his sword down to stab her this time. She turned over with surprising speed and caught the blade of his sword, clasping it between her palms. Laslow almost recoiled in shock, though kept his sword trained on her heart, though her surprising strength made it a tough battle. Using his weight however, he was able to press the point of the blade close to her heart, almost touching. He continued to try and plant the blade into her heart, which would surely kill her quickly. Kagero must have realised this as well, because right as Laslow made his move to force the blade through her heart, she pulled the blade across, away her heart and toward her shoulder. Unfortunately for Kagero, Laslow was still able to push the sword down and the blade left a large crevice along her chest and shoulder. Kagero gave a scream as this happened and Laslow overbalanced, almost toppling over, though stumbled forward and managed to balance himself. He turned around, sword in hand, ready to block another attack from Kagero, though her tenacious attempts to get up only resulted in screams and clutching the large slash on her shoulder. The ninja fell back as blood started to soak out of the wound, and Laslow knew she wouldn't likely be fighting much more. Hopefully Saizo was still wondering where he was.

As Laslow turned to glance at the male ninja's fallen body, it was gone. There was a puddle of blood where he formerly lay, yet the ninja himself was missing. Laslow straightened up, taking breaths, briefly around to see if the ninja had crawled away bleeding, before realising where Saizo really would be. In a single moment, Laslow's blood went cold and he choked on his breath. Then, Saizo struck.

Before Laslow could wheel around to face his attacker, Saizo slashed him savagely across the back. Laslow fell to his knees with a scream as he felt the blood start to drain down his back from the large wound. He collapsed to the ground, his hands doing little to soften the blow. Kagero's shurikens from earlier had taken their toll on his body. Saizo grabbed Laslow by the back of his collar and, lifting him up, threw him forward. Laslow skidded across the ground, eventually coming to a quick halt via a tree in his path. He gave a grunt as he hit the tree, feeling around and thankful that his sword hadn't left his hand this time and was still in his grip. Unfortunately, Saizo didn't give him any time to recuperate, and grabbed him by the neck this time with one hand, shuriken in the other poised to slay him as Laslow abandoned his sword keep Saizo from choking the life out of him. Saizo thrusted the shuriken forward at Laslow's face, Laslow taking one struggling hand off of his neck and tried to block the shuriken strike. The blades of the shuriken sliced deeply into his palm as he and Saizo wrestled against it. Taking a risk by releasing his other hand from Saizo's squeezing his neck, he reached around for his sword, trying to ignore he likely had a few seconds at best before Saizo broke his neck. His fingers brushed against the hilt of his sword and he grabbed it before swinging it wildly in front of him, lightly catching Saizo across the forehead before he could dodge. Saizo sprang back, maybe in disbelief, as Laslow coughed and spluttered, trying to breathe. As he hacked out a final splotch of blood, he looked up, still on his knees, glancing Saizo wiping away the drizzling blood from the cut on his forehead.

Saizo took a rare moment, giving a brief glance at the blood on his fingers, perhaps contemplating Laslow could've had his brains on the ground had he been half a second slower. He then presented a new, different-looking shuriken. It retained a similar shape to the previous shurikens Laslow had seen throughout the battle, yet this one possessed three points and was patterned with roaring flames. Laslow found out why a moment later.

Saizo held the shuriken in his hand, a one-eyed glare etched on his face, allowing Laslow a glance at the weapon, before gesturing with it slightly. Laslow instinctively raised his sword to defend, though instead of throwing the shuriken, the new shuriken suddenly crackled and flames emerged from the centre, covering the entire weapon and lighting it on fire. Saizo seemed unfazed by the fact he was literally holding a burning weapon and there were no visible burn signs upon his hand. Laslow would be impressed if Saizo didn't proceed to use it on him the next second.

Saizo threw the shuriken at Laslow, the burning weapon coming at a faster rate than what Laslow anticipated, striking him in the shoulder before he could deflect the attack. The shuriken exploded like a firework upon contact with him and Laslow found himself blasted away like a training dummy, flying a few feet before landing painfully on his now-injured shoulder and rolling over on the ground a few times. He came to a pitiful stop, a part of him amazed at how much the flaming shuriken had hurt. It felt similar similar to Odin's Fire tomes that his friend would blast him with by accident on occasion, except this one hit him directly and there wasn't a healing staff nearby for Laslow to recover from. He flexed his now-exposed shoulder quickly and gave a cry as the visible reddened flesh sent searing pain through his body. Whatever Saizo had just hit him with, it was like magic, and he'd never been good at taking magical attacks. Lifting his head up, he caught a glimpse of Saizo, a second of the flaming shurikens in his hand, lit on fire. Laslow ignored his complaining shoulder and rolled over out of the way as the flaming shuriken exploded into the ground near him, blowing dirt and smoke into his eyes. Taking the moment and praying he was obscured from Saizo's vision by the smoke, Laslow reached into his belt, prying around blindly for a few painfully long moments, before seizing a small vulnerary bottle, only a third full, popping the cap off and downing it a gulp, before throwing the empty bottle away as far as he could, hoping Saizo might search for him in that direction. Potions were on-the-go healing, numbing most of the user's pain and occasionally repairing a few open wounds, allowing the user to keep fighting now and worry about the effects later. They were also rather distasteful in Laslow's opinion, tasting like the time Odin had decided to 'experiment' with soup one fateful evening, though he couldn't deny they worked, as Laslow felt the burning in his shoulder fade. The multiple draining shuriken cuts and slices and the agony that had been his back also disappeared, though they still lingered, which Laslow briefly felt as rose to his feet, the smoke starting to clear. He spied his steel sword on the ground near him and he picked it up, feeling safer with it. Wiping his eyes, he stared into the fading smoke, wondering where Saizo was.

The answer came soon as a flaming shuriken shot through the smoke. Laslow ducked quickly as it flew over his head, exploding into a tree, and giving off new blackened smoke, as Saizo's outline became clearer and clearer through the misty smoke. Laslow braced himself, positioning himself in a defensive stance, then hopping evasively to the side as Saizo came lunging out, another flaming shuriken in hand, smoke trail following it. As Saizo recovered, skidding to stop himself from sliding into a blazing tree, Laslow hurriedly considered his odds. If the flaming shuriken the ninja was wielding was magical, then it would only take about two hits for Saizo to burn him to death. Laslow had never mixed well with magic, unlike the mages in the Nohrian army, who employed a series of spells to resist magical attacks. He did have chance, albeit a small one, yet a chance. Saizo wouldn't be dodging quite as well brandishing them weapon, due to the likely dangers of the weapon to him as well as Laslow, which meant Laslow might be able to get in a few well-placed shots to slay him. If the flaming shuriken was non-magical and actual fire thanks to some kind of ninja trick, then it would likely melt Laslow's sword if they clashed too long. And then Laslow would likely be reduced to a charred corpse in the next few minutes. Considering that possibility, Laslow swung his sword around in an attempt to behead Saizo.

The ninja quickly brought the flaming shuriken up to block the strike with one hand, the shuriken's flames burning angrily as if to reflect its wielder, though Laslow's sword was turning a vibrant and deadly-hot red, so that was one mystery solved. Laslow displaced his sword from the blade lock, and swung downward, unfortunately leaving himself open briefly, yet it was enough for Saizo to throw the shuriken into his chest. The shuriken exploded into flames, sending Laslow into the air backward and then gravity sent him crashing to the ground while his now-exposed chest burnt a deep crimson. He lay there, dazed, absorbing the searing pain rocketing from his chest to the rest of his body, before finding his grip on his sword as a shadow loomed over him. Swinging his sword quickly, relying solely on arm strength, he sweeped Saizo with the blade, leaving a cut in the back of his achilles. Saizo emitted a scream, which was good for Laslow since it meant Saizo was focused on something other than killing him currently. Laslow tried to get up, only for his chest to remind of the magical burn imprinted on it as it bent. He sucked in air and managed to soldier himself up, before almost collapsing when he planted his sword down in an attempt to kill Saizo once and for all. As with all of his other attempts so far, this one failed as Saizo somehow rolled out of the way, before kicking him square in the face with his good leg. Laslow tasted blood as he stumbled back, though shook off the kick and raised his sword as Saizo, with a herculean effort, managed to kick up with one leg, landing awkwardly on his feet, staring at Laslow in pained hatred.

Still staring at Laslow while practically on one leg, his bad one taking significantly less weight, Saizo ripped off his mask, throwing it aside, Laslow watching as it fell on the ground, before looking up at Saizo's newly-revealed face. Saizo was wearing a sadistic smile now, holding the flaming shuriken in his grasp, it's flames burning brightest amidst the blazing woods around them. Saizo chuckled and Laslow realised that Saizo might actually be enjoying this. That or not, Laslow had clearly awakened something in the man, and he now gave off the aura of a madman. The ninja was now laughing, stopping and grinning at Laslow, fire in his eyes.

"Come on," he said. With that, on his good leg, he leapt high into the air, flaming shuriken in hand, the magical weapon clashing violently with Laslow's sword. Saizo didn't wait for Laslow to recover and attacked him again, with renewed savagery, slashing and hacking at him madly yet skilfully, forcing Laslow to defend by blocking the burning attacks with his sword. Saizo continued to hack and claw away, before hitting Laslow's sword with a crushing attack so hard that Laslow almost went flying. Immediately afterward, there was loud bang and Laslow found himself flying back once again, unprepared. He landed with a thud, unsure of what had happened. Had Saizo landed a hit past his guard? No, the explosion hadn't been magical, otherwise he'd be in far more pain. He sat up, gritting his teeth past the angry burn on his chest, and actually found small black shrapnel shards in his torso. It was like he'd been hit by a firework. He thought back to how the original ending of the first battle, where Saizo and Peri had somehow blown up with no warning. It was then that he realised that Saizo himself was a walking bomb.

Laslow's eyes widened as he looked at Saizo, who'd been blown back by the explosion he'd caused, crawling to his feet, the maniac smile still on his unmasked face. Laslow thought quickly, desperately trying to find a way to combat this new, pyromaniacal Saizo before he killed both of them. As Saizo got to his feet, Laslow saw his clothing blown away, revealing evidence of a few other explosives hidden within his chest under his clothes. Planting and climbing his sword to his feet, Laslow attacked as quickly as he could, desperation and fear driving him. Flames burst from the shuriken as it clashed with Laslow's sword, Laslow trying in vain to penetrate Saizo's guard, and he was starting to notice something. The shuriken, with its flames, was likely heavier than Laslow's steel sword. Saizo's renewed vigour drove him on, yet Laslow knew he would likely be slightly quicker to the dodge than Saizo while he wielded this weapon. One of Laslow's thrusts left him open and Saizo, likely sensing the moment, went in, though Laslow was ready for the counter-strike. Summoning what was left of his energy, he backflipped out of range of Saizo's strike, surprising the ninja. Saizo didn't remain surprised for long and threw his flaming shuriken at Laslow, forcing Laslow to duck it. However, Laslow knew this would be the moment to strike and did, popping forward to deliver a two-handed slash to Saizo's mid-section. Saizo gave a raw scream, and Laslow honed all of his energy into what would hopefully be the final attack of the duel. Ducking low and spinning to gain extra momentum, sword ready, Laslow leapt into the air, completing the spin and raising his sword high as he came face-to-face with Saizo, who could only look up, unable to raise his shuriken fast enough. Laslow brought his sword down as hard he could, burying it between Saizo's neck and shoulder as deep as he could, letting out a cry as he did. He felt his sword cut right through Saizo's flesh and break his collarbone with violent crack. Stopping there as he touched the ground, Laslow booted Saizo in the chest to pry him off of his sword, the ninja being thrown to the ground and hitting it with a thud. He didn't move, the flaming shuriken slipping from his grip and losing its flames almost immediately.

Laslow didn't move for a few seconds, holding his sword frozen in place where it had once cut deep into Saizo. He knew he was victorious, that Saizo wouldn't be able to fight back anymore, even an elixir wouldn't fix the large slice Laslow had created in between his neck and shoulder. He breathed heavily, in and out. His body wanted to say it was over, that defeating Saizo would win that battle and he'd be able to go home now. But his mind knew the truth. It was only a minor victory, a victory nonetheless, yet it wouldn't stop the Hoshidans fighting and it certainly wouldn't stop Prince Ryoma. In fact, this would only make Ryoma more prone to cutting him limb from limb. Laslow breathed again, a breath that turned into a sigh as he turned around and was proven half-right.

It wasn't Ryoma who would be tearing him limb from limb, who was still locked in battle with Xander which Laslow noticed briefly before he was struck by the pair of shurikens. It was Kagero.

 _ **Kagero**_

Kagero shot another shuriken forward, which barely missed it mark on Laslow as he shifted to the side while her first two shuriken remained lodged in his torso. The Nohrian man, who'd been distracted revelling in his victory over Saizo, had seemingly forgotten he was on a battlefield, a testament to his arrogance. She would make him pay, now.

Kagero threw another pair of shuriken at Laslow, one of which found its mark in his unguarded shoulder, stunning him. She had to keep Laslow occupied so she could get him to safety with a rescue rod signal - he was too far gone for vulneraries now, unlike her. She'd had to consume two concoction portions to heal her wounds and even then she'd been left with visible scars. Lord Ryoma had instructed her to aid Saizo while he battled the Nohrian commander himself, a decision Kagero had disagreed with at the time, yet now saw the wisdom of. Ryoma was strong enough to hold out skilled enough to hold his own against the commander, yet Kagero knew it was crucial that she defeat Laslow quickly and evacuate Saizo, before aiding Ryoma in defeating the Nohrian commander. Hopefully, it would cause the Nohrian army to surrender as soon as the commander fell.

However, her most immediate task now was Saizo's safety. She tossed another shuriken that clanged off Laslow's shoulder guard, yet still did its job in stunning him once again. He stumbled backward, staggering clumsily over to a less on-fire tree to lean against it, showing clear signs of exhaustion. Kagero didn't give him that chance, though did see an opportunity to stop him for a time. Drawing two of her own customised shuriken or, more accurately, darts, she took aim at Laslow. The darts were easier to aim and she found them to fly more accurately than some other shuriken, and they were also useful as the toxin within them temporarily blinded those hit by them. A moment would be all she needed. She threw the first dart, aiming for Laslow's neck and hitting between his shoulder and neck, yet the dart did its job, and Laslow looked like he'd stared directly into the sun, covering his eyes with one hand reactively, dropping his sword. The second dart flew into his hand, blinding him like a flash again while pinning his hand to the tree he'd been leaning against. Laslow gave a cry while Kagero didn't waste a moment in moving toward Saizo, drawing a signal from her storage beneath her clothing. Standing over Saizo's prone body, she let the magically lit orb into the sky above the blazing trees, before stepping away from Saizo's body as sigils on the ground indicative of the rescue rod appeared momentarily. She took a glance behind her to see the sigils alight and Saizo disappeared in a flash of mystical light. Turning back to Laslow, the Nohrian man had managed to pull his hand through the dart away from the tree and was moving his fingers tentatively while the hole in his hand bled profusely. He quickly wrapped it in a rag of his clothing that he tore off, and gave her a wounded look. He opened his mouth to speak while she gave him a piercing glare. He paused, looking rather uncomfortable and lost.

"You know, milady," he said meekly. "It's polite not to stare at one's opponent... so much. Just saying." Kagero was unsure of what Laslow was trying to do, but she was having none of it. She was through with his tricks and words. She'd given him every chance for that when they'd first come face to face.

She said nothing, only drawing another shuriken, keeping her glaring gaze straight on him, and attacking him at melee range with a slash from her shuriken. He barely dodged the swing by leaning back and straightening up, looking at her desperately. She ignored his pleading look, and attacked again with a pair of shuriken, throwing one that went whizzing past his ear and swinging upward with another that Laslow evaded with a hop back. He brandished his sword, and now took a swing at her horizontally, which she quickly avoided by flipping backwards out of range. As she landed, she shot a shuriken at him, which he deflected with a wave of his sword. Following up immediately, he leapt into the air, attempting to plant his sword into the ground on top of her, which dodged with a another backflip, landing on her feet catlike. As he pulled his sword from the ground, she swept his leg from under him, letting him fall to the ground with a high-pitched yelp. She punched her shuriken into his head on the ground, only for him to dodge the blow by reactively rolling out of harm's way. He sprang to his feet, mouthing, "Whoa," which she returned with throwing her shuriken like a disc at him, which he quickly bent over to duck. As he did, she rolled over his back, dragging her shuriken down his back as she did and leaving it there as kicked off his back to stomp him into the ground. Twisting in mid-air, she threw another pair of shuriken at him, which rolled he out of the way of on the ground, before climbing his sword back to his feet. Kagero landed to see Laslow discarding the shuriken that she left in his back and breathing heavily. He gave her a weary look.

"That... was a nice trick," he complimented her, with a hopeful smile on his face. She looked at him incredulously, before launching into another attack, flipping over before slashing at him with her shuriken, which he parried with a movement of his sword, and spinning out the way, letting her go forward unintentionally. She didn't give him any moment to breathe and swung back around with her shuriken, spinning, before slashing downward, which he stopped by raising his sword, holding it at each end with one hand. She lunged at him, a shuriken in each hand as the second slipped from her sleeve to her hand, though he skilfully countered it a backward roll, letting her own momentum carry her forward and slipping himself from her grasp. Kagero landed in a forward roll, immediately landing standing up and wheeling around to face her adversary. He was already back to his feet, taking a small breather. She threw a spinning shuriken at him, which he deflected quickly with a quick slash. He sidestepped a second shuriken, and took a step across to the side as he approached her before spinning while extending his sword in a powerful slash across. But Kagero saw it coming. She ducked the slash and responded quickly by slicing Laslow twice across his exposed chest with her shuriken. Laslow, stunned by the blinding effect, staggered back, and Kagero threw a shuriken in strong throw at his head. Either by the faith of the gods of just plain dumb luck, Laslow staggered to the side in his blindness, avoiding the shuriken. Kagero looked on in disbelief at what had just happened and faltered at the undeserved the luck of the Nohrian. Laslow, recovered from his blindness, took his opportunity to deliver a backhand slash to her stomach. She nearly dodged the blow, in the process of a handspring backflip as it happened, though he nicked her with the tip of his sword, giving her light but large cut. She wiped it with her palm, feeling a strong stinging pain, catching a breather while she stared at Laslow fiercely. He was more skilled than she'd initially given him credit for, it seemed, and she'd underestimated him. Perhaps that had been his plan all along, and it was this underestimation that had allowed him to defeat Saizo. Regardless, she now must conceive an alternate strategy. Trying to fight him at close range was clearly nonoptimal. Far range may work better.

Behind her, an explosion of magic sounded out in the air. Kagero recognised as the sound of Lord Ryoma's divine katana, Raijinto, a sacred weapon passed down through the Hoshidan royal family. She turned, briefly noticing Laslow had been distracted by the same event.

Behind them, the battlefield had thinned considerably, with now only Lord Ryoma and the Nohrian commander dueling intensely. The Nohrian commander himself seemingly possessed his own divine weapon, as Kagero watched a beam of dark energy erupt from the blade at the commander's call. Ryoma dodged the beam with a backflip, though it was clear the battle had taken its toll upon him. She had no choice. She would have to abandon her battle with Laslow to aid Ryoma. Lord Ryoma's safety came before all else.

Quickly tossing a shuriken at Laslow, catching him before he could react, she moved quickly toward the titanic battle between the two commanders, darting past bodies of the dead. Their sacrifice would be worth it. The battle would be won.

As Ryoma summoned a bolt of lightning from Raijinto to strike the Nohrian commander, which the commander deflected with his sword, almost absorbing it into the blade, Kagero through a shuriken, catching him off guard, though the blinding effect seemed to have almost no effect on him, not even causing him to blink.

"Kagero!" Ryoma exclaimed, looking unsurprised but also a hint relieved at her appearance. Then he turned serious once again, "What of Saizo?"

"He is safe," Kagero replied. "I stand with you, my lord." Ryoma gave a smile, then nodded to her.

"Very well," he replied, before the both of them sprang to the side to dodge another energy beam from the commander's mysterious blade. Ryoma beckoned to her.

"This man is unlike any other I've faced. Be on your guard at all times," he warned her. She nodded to him, then tossed out a shuriken at the commander. With his armour, he didn't even flinch from the dart, yet she knew it would sap him of his strength if its poison entered his veins. Ryoma shot forward to sting him with a quick thrust from Raijinto, and Kagero flipped to the side as the beam of dark energy came at toward her, tossing another shuriken that unfortunately missed its mark as the commander directed his mount out of the shuriken's path. The commander galloped forward atop his horse, bringing his sword into across his body and executing a powerful swing aimed downward as he came upon Kagero. She dodged the would-be crippling blow, feeling the wind disperse near her face. The raw power of the commander was undeniable. It was likely he could have split her skull clean in half had he connected. Lord Ryoma had not been lying about the man's strength.

Kagero flipped sideways, creating distance between her and the commander. Behind the commander, Ryoma shot in, slashing him in the back with Raijinto. As the commander's head turned, she threw a shuriken to his shoulder, the dart bouncing off his armour with a clang. However, he seemingly decided to ignore her, and instead focused on Ryoma, rushing forward with a thrust from his sword. Kagero rushed forward to aid her liege and sent out two shuriken, both hitting him in the side, yet barely denting his armour. Again he ignored her, instead focusing on duelling Ryoma by swatting away his attempt at a thrust with his sword. Ryoma was thrown off balance and Kagero, knowing her liege was likely in danger, didn't think and zoomed in, throwing herself between Ryoma and the commander, raising her shuriken to block the commander's downward swing.

She hadn't been wrong about the commander's strength, and his blade almost broke both her shuriken and wrists as she took the blow. He seemed slightly taken aback by her interference, yet behind her she heard Ryoma command her, "Move!", and, breaking the blade lock, Kagero dove out of the way half a second before Ryoma shot forward, striking five times, exchanging strength for speed and hacking away at the commander's armour. Kagero rubbed her wrists, trying to soothe them after blocking the commander's strike. As Ryoma finished his sequence, Kagero tossed a shuriken, missing as it spun out past the commander. She silently cursed, before switching weapons, now to her set of steel shuriken, which would hit harder and had a stronger poison that might be able to break past the commander's defenses.

Kagero flexed her wrists, before drawing a shuriken and flinging it at the commander. It scraped past his armoured chest, whistling, and Ryoma charged in with a slash from Raijinto. The commander blocked the slash by swinging with his own sword against the slash and the two swords collided with a titanic clash. Ryoma exited the clash by flipping backwards out and Kagero seized her opportunity to hit the commander with another shuriken, the spinning star finding its way to the commander's back. It hit him with a jolt, though he still showed no sign of feeling the shuriken's sting. He raised his sword and fired off another beam from his sword that Ryoma acrobatically backflipped out of range from. It was now that Kagero noticed an airborne figure, sword in hand, incoming. She instinctively moved to defend Ryoma from this foolish attacker, only to clash blades with Laslow again.

Laslow retreated with a quick backflip, flipping out of the way of Ryoma's slash against him and flipping to the side as another beam came blasting from the Nohrian commander's sword, which Ryoma sidestepped to dodge. Laslow returned to the commander's side and Kagero saw them briefly exchange words, Laslow casually throwing his sword and flipping it before smoothly catching it. Kagero stood by Ryoma's side, watching the two Nohrians warily. Beside her, Raijinto flashed with electricity. She then heard Ryoma's words, as they pierced the tension in the air and readied her for the final stand.

"This is it."

 _ **Xander**_

In an instant, the brief calm broke and the storm crashed in. Xander charged in, Siegfried firmly in his grasp, ready, as he faced off against Ryoma. Laslow, slightly quicker on his feet, reached Ryoma first, attacking him with a horizontal swing of his sword, which Ryoma blocked before retaliating with a sharp thrust that Laslow dodged as Xander came in with a stab of Siegfried. Ryoma evaded the stab with a duck and a parry with his katana, leading Xander forward with his own momentum. Xander regained control of his mount and turned it around, the battle coming back into his view as Laslow blocked two incoming shurikens from the female ninja with his sword. Xander signalled to his horse and it leapt into the air over the female ninja as he prepared to bring Siegfried down upon her. Ryoma must've noticed this and rushed to defend his comrade by dashing in to parry the potentially lethal blow. Siegfried and the holy katana clashed, and, try as he might to keep the blow on course, Ryoma used his speed to deflect and redirect the blow to only air. Behind Ryoma, Laslow made his move. At the last possible second, Ryoma somehow detected Laslow's presence and wheeled around to clash their blades. The Hoshidan prince traded two equal blows with Laslow while Xander summoned Siegfried's divine power. As Ryoma traded another blow with Laslow and made it past his guard to catch him in the side with his katana, he backflipped right over the energy beam as Xander let it strike. Luckily, Laslow managed to evade the oncoming bolt and found himself preoccupied with blocking shurikens from the ninja. As Ryoma landed, he wheeled around and slashed around with his katana, nearly catching Xander off-guard. Xander, however, from his extended time spent battling the swordmaster, had discovered weaknesses in his style, and, for the scarce hits he'd landed on the skilfully quick enemy, he'd learnt his blows weren't quite powerful enough to break through Xander's armour, especially with Siegfried's supernatural blessing, and that he was a duelist and moved in rhythm. When the rhythm was broken, he was vulnerable.

Xander purposefully hesitated slightly; Ryoma, expecting Xander's counterattack immediately instinctively pulled back immediately but seemed surprised that it hadn't happened. As the look of confusion crossed Ryoma's face, Xander unleashed a full-power blast of Siegfried's power, aiming it at Ryoma. If he didn't avoid it, he would surely be defeated at the very least. And at such a close range, that was less likely.

Ryoma did not dodge the blast. But it was not him it hit.

Instead, the female ninja intervened once again, forcing herself between Ryoma and Xander, and catching the blast with her shuriken, momentarily holding it, before the divine power sent her shooting backward. She crashed through a blazing tree and shot out of sight. Ryoma turned after her, shouting what Xander assumed to be her name, "Kagero!", in concern. Xander saw his eyes flare with rage shortly after, and he darted forward towards Xander. Xander blocked one of his incoming slashes, his armour protecting him from the other. He struck back with a downward strike, though Ryoma easily dodged the heavy swing with a simple hop back. As quickly as he Xander retaliated, Ryoma struck back, drilling the plates of Xander's mount's armour with two quick thrusts before he backflipped to retreat away from Xander's counter-strike. Behind Xander, Laslow leapt into the air, flipping and bringing his sword down against Ryoma's as the swordmaster parried the blow. Laslow dodged Ryoma's first counterattack, but was caught by his quick follow-up thrust. Xander signalled to his horse to jump and leapt in, swinging his sword down. Ryoma flipped to the side to avoid the downward strike and parried Laslow's thrust as he dashed in. Laslow backflipped right over Ryoma to dodge the swordmaster's thrust. Ryoma ducked and wheeled around, slashing Laslow brutally across the stomach in mid-air as he attempted to land, landing sprawled out on the ground, bleeding from the savage cut.

Xander raised Siegfried and channeled its power to shoot a beam toward Ryoma as he prepared to execute Laslow, once again. As Ryoma hopped back, a grave look upon his face, he squatted, a gesture Xander had learnt summoned the power of his unique katana. Xander ordered his horse around, dodging the burst of lightning as it appeared before him. Out of the corner of his eye, Xander saw Laslow, holding his slashed stomach with one hand and crawling with the other. He wouldn't be able to fight anymore. Ryoma caught his eye, throwing a glimpse at Laslow, before turning back to Xander.

"It is you and I now. No others," he challenged, holding his katana out straight, flashing with electricity. Xander pointed Siegfried at his opponent.

"Very well," he replied.

Xander charged forward, stabbing forward with Siegfried, a blow Ryoma backflipped to avoid without hesitation. Xander didn't stop and reared his horse back on its hind legs before coming down with his sword, swinging and missing as Ryoma leapt out of range. Ryoma squatted and held his blade upward, summoning his katana's power, Xander blocking the burst of energy with Siegfried's blade. As the energy disappeared, Xander activated Siegfried's power, and a beam of crimson energy shot from the legendary sword. Ryoma faced off the energy beam, holding his sword out and, with a vertical cut, sliced the beam in half, dispersing it diagonal sides. Xander's face gave off no emotion to this act, though inside, he was impressed by the Hoshidan prince's power. Ryoma may even pose an even fight to King Garon of Nohr himself, Xander's father, who could slay even the toughest Hoshidan soldiers with a single blow from his axe, Bolverk. And, throughout the course of the battle, Ryoma had managed similar feats. Regardless, he must be defeated. And it was clear that no one other than Xander upon the battlefield stood a chance.

Xander and Ryoma both charged at the same time, and their blades clashed once again, colliding against each other with a colossal screech. They remained there momentarily, before they separated and clashed again, letting loose another metal screech. Separating again, Xander had to use all of his speed and technique to keep up with Ryoma's as their blades dissolved into a frenzy of swings and clashes. Atop his mount, Xander knew he had a clear strength and reach advantage, yet Ryoma had a greater range of movement, dodging his powerful swings and challenging his less powerful ones. Ryoma leapt backwards out of the way of Xander's downward cut, and adjusted his stance slightly, before dashing forward against Xander, slashing his horse's armour before Xander could even move Siegfried. Ryoma got off another two lightning-quick slash against Xander's armour before ducking Xander's swing of Siegfried to hit him two more times. His armour was gradually weakening from the constant barrage of slashes and Xander knew it. If it broke, Xander would have to rely on Siegfried for protection, and, with Ryoma's speed, it would be unlikely to be effective.

Xander refocused, firing a scarlet and ebony beam from Siegfried that Ryoma dodged with flawless precision. Ryoma went in again to slash Xander's armour, only for Xander to dodge the thrust by bringing his horse around out of range of Ryoma's attack. Xander swung Siegfried down as Ryoma retreated backward out of range, before mounting another attack. Xander this time parried Ryoma's lunging thrust, maneuvering his horse out of the way as he let Ryoma pass by him, before rearing his horse up, Siegfried ready to swing down upon Ryoma. Forced to block the blow, Ryoma raised his katana as it met Siegfried and was nearly forced to kneel due to power. As soon as the block became a blade lock, Ryoma backflipped out of it, barely scraping by without being cut in half by Siegfried's blade. Ryoma retreated, putting distance between himself and Xander, clutching his katana as it buzzed with electricity. Xander stood his ground, anticipating another attack. Ryoma's katana started to charge, the lightning starting to become more and more frenzied. Xander remained stagnant, yet began charging Siegfried, feeling the power course through the blade as purple energy started to cloak the blade. The two princes eyes locked.

In an instant, they both charged once again, Xander's horse galloping toward Ryoma as Siegfried's power rumbled the blade, shaking Xander's arm. He brought the blade across, ready to perform a mighty swing to finish the duel. If he could even do it at all, this would be it.

The sacred blades clashed. And power erupted from the clash, a wave of pure energy dispersing from it.

Xander found himself blown off his horse, snapping the straps that kept him on his horse, and launching him far away from Ryoma. He kept hold of Siegfried, probably out of instinct, and he climbed to his feet, wiping his hair and sweat from his face, clutching Siegfried tight in case of a surprise attack from Ryoma. As he looked around, seeing no sign of his opponent nor his horse, which had likely been killed or injured in the explosion. It was no that he noticed the surviving Nohrian soldiers around him.

All still held their weapons, yet they weren't fighting, merely watching. Quickly thinking, Xander deduced they must've thought the winner of the duel between him and Ryoma would decide the victor. Still looking around for Ryoma, he finally saw him, his katana sheathed, yet he still had his hand placed on its hilt. Straightening up, Xander lowered Siegfried, still watching the Hoshidan commander for any sudden movements. Briefly, Xander spared a look back at his troops, many of whom were injured to some capacity, including Laslow, who'd managed to crawl his way to a tree and was slumped against it. He still seemed alive, however. At least half of the Nohrian forces were likely dead. Around them, the wave that had been triggered by the clash of the two legendary weapons had snuffed out most of the fire and blazing trees, leaving them smoking and barren.

Xander turned back to Ryoma, one last stare, before, with a nod, he turned around and began to walk away. There was nothing more to be done. The primary objective was lost. No more blood needed to be spilt. At this point, it was merely seeing which prince could kill the other. And that was unnecessary. At least at this point. The Nohrian soldiers stared at Xander, most in confusion, though he simply raised a hand as he sheathed Siegfried and beckoned them to leave. A few still seemed confused, though nobody was about to challenge his authority or strength. Behind him, he faintly heard Ryoma do the same.

 _ **Kagero**_

Kagero remained still while the shrine maiden healed her wounds while chanting the incantation for moon festal. Contrasting with healing potions such as vulneraries, rods soothed pain gradually, sealed cuts and healed bruises, as opposed to the cheaper numbing of pain and occasional seal of a cut. Rods would save your life, while potions would keep you fighting was the general mantra among the Hoshidan army, and it was suspected the Nohrian army had a similar saying.

Kagero usually took moments like this, being healed, to introspectively reflect upon the past battle. What went well, what went wrong, what she could improve and the like. Yet she was still too exhausted to think currently, and she'd save reflection for when they returned to Hoshido. She was still within the Hoshidan fort within the White Woods. Sitting next to her upon a bed was Orochi, who'd mostly been sleeping. The monk who'd been caring for her had reassured an anxious Kagero she merely needed and rest, and would be good as new in a matter of hours. She'd taken a few nasty hits in battle, so Kagero could understand her needing rest. Yet Kagero constantly worried whenever laying eyes on the motionless body of her good friend.

She hadn't seen Saizo yet, he was likely being treated within a separate room. Kagero had no doubts he'd pull through, he'd been exposed to explosions so many times, this one wasn't a particularly grandiose example. It may take his injured pride some time to recover, however. Being defeated a Nohrian such as Laslow would likely cause him great fury, and Kagero did not look forward to witnessing his rages. Still, time would hopefully heal the wound, though Kagero felt a degree of sympathy to anyone who crossed him within the next few days.

The kinshi knight, Reina, had also come to visit her within the hours, and the two had talked of the battle, yet the conversation had been fleeting. A small part of her had hoped Lord Ryoma would've come to visit, yet there had been no sign of him. The logical side of Kagero accepted this as him being busy to organise healing, travel, food, weaponry and other provisions and would be too caught up in that to visit every soldier on their sickbed. Kagero closed her eyes, still unable to think as the shrine maiden caring for her finished with her wounds and politely smiled at her as she placed her rod down.

"Your wounds are healed, miss," she informed Kagero. "The only thing left is rest. If you have any problems or your wounds reopen, please ring the bell." The shrine maiden left as Kagero thanked her while Kagero lay silently back in her bed. The rod must be straightening her mind, as she could feel herself be able to think more freely and her mind calmed. Kagero focused, reliving the battle in her mind, like watching it. Every action and moment of hers, she strained to remember, before, after a few minutes of this, the pain in her head returned and she ceased her thoughts. She wished she had her diary with her, it would give her something to do instead of waiting out the healing process. With nothing else to do, she decided to take the shrine maiden's advice and rest, peacefully lying back and closing her eyes.

"Kagero?"

Kagero's eyes opened immediately at the sound of Ryoma's voice and she sat up to see him, changed out of his samurai swordmaster uniform into a comfortable and regal-looking yukata emblazoned with red and white. He was carrying a box in his hands with a book on top of it. He looked at peace yet quite tired. Kagero and Ryoma shared a brief look.

"Ah, I apologise. I did not mean to wake you," Ryoma apologised, walking over to her bedside and setting the box down before kneeling down next to her.

"No, my lord, I was barely asleep," Kagero answered, somewhat stunned by Ryoma's sudden appearance. Ryoma nodded to her, before starting to speak.

"Are you alright? How are your wounds healing?" he asked her concernedly.

"They are fine," Kagero replied. "All that is needed now is rest."

"I will leave you to it, then," Ryoma said, starting to get up.

"Wait," Kagero said, a little too quickly than she'd have liked, before adding, "Lord Ryoma." He knelt back down.

"Forgive me, Lord Ryoma, but I must know: What happened there on the battlefield?" Kagero questioned him. He looked somewhat confused, and Kagero elaborated, "I mean, between you and the Nohrian commander. True, he was formidable, yet I saw you simply walk away. What happened?" Understanding flashed in Ryoma's eyes, and he nodded to acknowledge he realised what she was referring to.

"Ah, I see," he confirmed. "He and I came to an understanding." Still confused, Kagero questioned further, "How? I heard no negotiation between you two."

"You see, each of us had shown each other our maximum power that we could muster. He was perhaps the most powerful man I have ever faced, and I suspect I was the same for him. I know not of the Nohrians' objective, yet it was clear that it had failed and was lost. Our only goal was to defend ourselves from the Nohrians, and the only battle that remained was he and I. And when we realised we could not defeat the other here, there was simply no reason for the battle to continue. We could have fought each other for a hundred days and there would still have been no victor. And I suspect if it had come to that, we would've been the only people left alive on that battlefield. There is wisdom in renouncing a battle when two undefeatable forces collide." Kagero nodded, understanding. The words Lord Ryoma spoke were true. His actions had achieved peace, fleeting and temporary, yet peace. Though Kagero suspected this would not be the last of the Nohrians' attacks. This battle may have ended with no clear victor, yet the results of others were in doubt. How many times during this battle had Kagero come close to dying? Countless times.

"But that is in the past now. And I swear, the next time I meet him in combat, I will defeat him. I swear it," Ryoma declared in a serious tone. Kagero nodded.

"I believe in you, Lord Ryoma," she promised him. Ryoma smiled at her.

"Thank you, Kagero. I know I can always count on you," he praised her. He rose from his kneeling position but bent down again, taking the small book from on top of the box and presenting it to her. With a jolt of happiness, Kagero realised what the book was: her diary.

"I thought you may request this, so raided your tent for it. I also brought you some brushes and ink," Ryoma explained with a smile. Kagero returned it as she took the diary from him.

"Thank you, Lord Ryoma," she said as she opened her diary, looking for a fresh page.

"I'll leave you to it," Ryoma said as he left the room.

 _ **Laslow**_

Laslow ran a hand through his hair as he walked near the Nohrian royal guard, Lord Xander's carriage a few metres away. He kept flexing his stomach, envisioning the large cut across his stomach had once been and one hundred or more tiny cuts caused by the shurikens, courtesy of the Hoshidan ninjas. He was mostly healed up, though he'd foregone more further treatment beyond a mend and heal staff, claiming to the troubadour medics he all patched up, in favour of letting them heal more seriously wounded soldiers, such as Peri. In truth, his back was still killing him for how many times it had been hit by the battle and his shoulders still twinged whenever he moved them. Regardless, at least he could walk on his own too feet, which was more than he could say for some of the gruesome cases he'd seen. An axe fighter had to have the rest of his arm cut off after it had been deformed by a Hoshidan spirit. Laslow had left the scene to go vomit in a bush.

Right now, he was mainly glad to be alive. He wasn't sure whether it was luck or skill that had taken him through the battle, yet, whatever it was, it carried him through. Laslow recalled the battle in his mind, thinking. Most of his thoughts came back to how he'd handled the initial meeting with the Hoshidans, wondering if he could've said something different. It was unlikely he'd have been able to convince them of his lie without Lord Xander being present and ready to back up Laslow, which would make for its own difficulties. Perhaps telling the Hoshidans the truth of their objective would've won them over. Laslow thought about that for a second, before realising there was no way in the world that the Hoshidans would agree to a treaty between Nohr and Nestra against Hoshido and any of its allies. What's more, if news of the battle reached Nestrian ears, it would likely put them off aligning with Nohr, especially since Nohr technically didn't win the battle. On the other hand, they technically didn't lose, but that likely wouldn't matter in court.

Sighing, Laslow thoughts inexplicably turned to Peri. She was with the other wounded, and he'd gone to visit her, though she'd still been unconscious. It was the most at peace he'd ever seen her, and almost made Laslow forget about her murderous and amoral personality. The troubadours had informed Laslow she'd likely make it, despite her grievous injuries. Amoral or not, Laslow certainly could deny that Peri was a survivor.

Looking on the bright side, at least Laslow had a story to tell Odin and Selena when he returned to Nohr. He doubted much out of the norm had happened with the other two, based on the brief descriptions of their respective missions they'd shared before they all departed. Selena and some others had been tasked with occupying the Emperor's Chasm, an area near the Bottomless Canyon, while Odin had described his mission as, 'retrieving the sacred and legendary lodestone imbued with the purest of darkness of the very dragon of dusk itself', whatever that meant. Laslow assumed that translated to fetching some ingredient for one of Prince Leo's spells.

And also on the bright side, he might be able to charm a few ladies if he could spread tales of his deeds in the battle. Defeating a Hoshidan ninja in combat would at least allow him to strike up a conversation hopefully. He could see himself laying out the lines right now... " _The Hoshidan ninjas aren't so tough. I took down one myself. I can recount the thrilling tale over tea, miss..."_ Yeah, that was bound to get him one girl interested at least. As long as Nohrian woman are into war tales. But who wasn't? Though maybe he could leave out a few bits. Like getting kicked and tackled off a cliff. And when he accidentally kicked Saizo between the legs. And perhaps the part where he lost his sword and had to fight the Faceless unarmed. Or maybe just change it a bit. Maybe he could get Odin to develop a few storylines for him, then filter them a bit to make them girl-friendly.

Laslow was interrupted in his schemes when the army halted, including Lord Xander's carriage. He assumed Xander had given the order, perhaps taking mercy upon the front line infantry or maybe the still-wounded were having difficulty keeping pace. Whatever the reason, Laslow was grateful for it. Maybe he could even get a quick nap in to refresh himself.

"Set up camp here," Xander's voice rang authoritatively throughout the remaining Nohrian. "We'll resume our journey back to Nohr at dawn." Laslow looked around, finding they'd come to a large clearing within the woods, not as many branches and trees here. He eyed Xander, who'd exited his carriage and was making haste to several groups of soldiers, giving them instructions. Laslow decided he wasn't quite ready to face Xander and his likely many questions about what Laslow had been thinking, and decided to take it upon himself to pitch in with setting up soldier tents. Technically, he could have stood around and given the Nohrian soldiers orders all day, rather than do any actual work, though he was feeling generous. He was careful to work on tents that were away from Xander's field of vision, and for about the next half hour went about assisting soldiers with their duties, returning his sword to the armoury convoy and drank some tea to keep himself going. Once everything was set up, Laslow retired to his tent, changed into some looser and more casual clothes, before putting off his discussion with Xander once again, and stealthily setting off for the forest, keeping watch for Xander and any of the night watch guards.

Once he was far enough in the woods, and, after checking for any bears that might want to eat him, Laslow unwound. Embarrassingly, it was possibly his favourite thing to do, dancing late at night as practice for when he busted out a move on the occasion on the battlefield. It was generally either this or flirting with any lady that caught his eye in town, though they were far from any friendly town in here. He also somewhat begrudgingly admitted he had more luck in dance than flirting.

After taking another three checks to ensure no one (and nothing) was watching, Laslow began. It was his mother's favourite dance tonight, which he generally reserved for whenever he was feeling homesick. His half-healed wounds made him lose a bit of spring in his step, though he compensated by putting a bit extra effort into some of the trickier transitional moves and the larger movements, just as his mother taught him. He finished the dance with his own ending he'd created, rather than the actual ending his mother actually implemented. It felt more natural to him, yet he couldn't deny he preferred his mother's variation for sheer style. Once he finished, he revised a few of the spins and leaps, trying to get his legs working again. Afterwards, he performed the dance again, this time, finishing with his mother's ending, imagining her alongside him as he finished the last movement. He must've been there over an hour, yet the time passed by quickly as worked through the routines. Finally, after a third performance, Laslow finished, taking a fancy bow, imagining the crowd pelting him with roses and smiles, along with maybe a few kisses from the female audience members. He chuckled to himself at the prospect.

The sound of clapping almost made Laslow jump out of his boots up a tree. He looked around, wide-eyed as he looked for the source as all his senses told him someone had just seen him dance and it was absolutely petrifying. Following the noise, which gradually ceased, before he saw the one person he'd hoped not to see until tomorrow.

Lord Xander stood there, his hands together, nodding in what Laslow hoped was approval. Laslow tried to speak, only to find his voice had abandoned him, before he spat out some gurgled words. Laslow shook himself, trying to pull himself together and segue out of this.

"Ah, hello, Lord Xander," Laslow stammered, putting on the most guiltless smile he could muster. Maybe he could blow over the whole dancing and battle with the Hoshidans thing. "A nice night for a stroll, milord. The bears are an occupational hazard, though the stars look nice." Xander merely shook his head and walked over to Laslow.

"So, this is what you do when you sneak out in the evening," Xander said in tone that was hard for Laslow to read. He sounded neither disappointed nor proud. "I must say, you never gave off the impression of a dancer. I can also see flashes of your swordsmanship style in there. I had always wondered how you were so strong, agile and fast in combat, disproportionately compared to how much actual training you do. Now I know." Laslow stood there stumped. How did one respond in such a situation? He tried to think of something to say, though every reply in his mind seemed to be the wrong thing to say to Xander.

Xander must've seen the inner turmoil within Laslow, and he added, "Your dancing is a wonder to behold, Laslow." Laslow was unsure how to react to the praise, and simply stood there, waiting for the conversation to steer toward somewhere he felt more comfortable. Which unfortunately would likely be the battle against the Hoshidans. Xander must've seen this thought in Laslow's mind as well.

"Perhaps you'd care to explain how a small skirmish escalated into a full-scale battle?" Xander questioned him. Laslow couldn't detect any malice or anger in Xander's voice, yet searched his mind to come up with a response that would paint himself in the best possible light he could without sounding like he was essentially blaming the Hoshidans or Peri for everything.

"Negotiations upon meeting broke down on... both sides, milord," Laslow answered uncertainly. It was technically true; Peri and Saizo's personalities had been explosives waiting to go off, though Laslow's stalling and lying to Kagero hadn't done him or the Nohrian army any favours. Xander gave an inquisitive look, implying that Laslow should explain further.

"I didn't reveal our objective and tried to give them an... alternate explanation for our presence there," Laslow explained, watching as Xander instantly translated that to 'I lied to them'. "Tempers flared and the Hoshidan commander decided he didn't like me. And then the Hoshidan prince arrived, and you know how that went." Laslow finished, putting in a small bit of black comedy that he hoped might take Xander's mind off the fact that this was, essentially, Laslow's fault. Xander only nodded in acknowledgement.

"I see," was all Xander said. "In future, do not try to deceive your enemies, Laslow. We have other people for that." Xander paused, which Laslow nearly took as an inclination to speak, though stopped himself as Xander confused.

"However, your bravery in this battle was unparalleled. I have no questions about that or your loyalty. Any common man who'd face High Prince Ryoma in sword combat deserves praise for that. And your efforts in saving Peri's life were admirable, even if you two don't always seem to get along. For that, I won't punish you in any way for your folly in negotiation." Laslow almost sighed with relief at that news. Lord Xander had punished him for skipping training and for various incidents involving women before, though he suspected it would be significantly more painful for this particular incident. Luck had smiled on him in this instance.

"Now, shall we return to camp? Perhaps we can get some more eyes on your dancing. I meant what I said, it is a wonder to behold, Laslow," Xander offered as he turned to walk back through the woods towards the camp. Laslow went shy once again.

"Um, Lord Xander, there's a reason I dance in the woods with no one watching..."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** And that's it. Extremely long, and took me a fair while. I'd love reviews on it and for anybody to tell me what they think, since I'm pretty new here. Thanks again for reading. Ta._


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